Knights of the frozen ashes (Fairy tail)
by sr.unknown
Summary: Erza and Natsu go on a job together since she needs to speak to him in private. But then a creature with an unknown power leaves them on the verge of death. Natsu sets himself in protecting Erza at all cost, even if it means playing with powers he doesnt understand (it contains various pairings aside from the ones mentioned read to find out WARNING: yuri, lemon,big harem, violence)
1. Prologue

Prologue

"(Yawn)! I'm beat!" a tanned woman with long brown hair said while stretching her limbs trying to dissipate the sleepiness. She was dressed in dark pirate trousers, dark blue high heel shoes a white unbuttoned jacket showing a black bikini and was carrying a bag.

The reason of her weariness was the job she was currently on. Strange readings of unstable ethernano had the local foresters worried. Since the forest was on the outsides of Magnolia and none of the train lines reached there, she had to walk most of the way (also there was the fact the only food she packed was alcohol).

So now she was walking between the lake and the forest sipping from her whisky bottle.

"It'll dark soon, I'll just camp here and continue tomorrow" Cana decided, and then turned her gaze to the lake. As usual she was drunk enough to opt for the bad ideas.

With an alcohol filled smile she said.

"A quick bath won't hurt me" she dropped her bag next to a nearby rock. Then, after a last check on the surroundings (despite having her sight just a little distorted) she dispose of her clothing.

When she was done she wasted no time in nailing in the lake. She splashed and dived with many twists for a few minutes and then just laid on the water surface with a dumb smile on her face, but it fell eventually.

'I bet it would be way more fun with another person' she sighed melancholically. The downside of having alcohol-induced extreme happiness is that it could change any moment for killer depression. And if it is even slightly justified the consequences could be following ideas even worst than swimming naked in a public lake.

Said depression started to get her heart, it was not only the fact that the only experience with couples were men trying to take advantage of her alcoholic preferences, but because the only man that could love her just for being herself was yet another pervert man that was absent most of the time for reasons he didn't mind sharing with her.

'It doesn't matter, if he doesn't want to act like a normal father then I prefer staying… orphan' that thought sadden her more that she anticipated and soon her eyes watered.

Cana didn't like being depressed at all, and it happened more times she would like to admit.

But she had a solution that always worked like charm, although she would never tell anyone she uses it.

So almost with hurry she moved her hands down to her womb. With her left hand she spread her lower mouth walls and then put her right index and medium finger inside it.

The very idea of touching herself aroused her like always, and being drunk only increased the feeling.

"Haa…haa" Cana didn't even bother in stifling her moans of pleasure, just listening to her own voice dripped with lust as she pleasured herself made her even hornier.

She started moving her fingers in circular motions making her nipples to erect suddenly.

At this sight she moved her left hand to her breast and twisted her nipple. The action made her voice emit a loud cry of pleasure and her body to squirm in the water.

In her mind, Cana described this activity as abusing of her own body. She always chanted that on her head "the tanned beauty is abusing of herself" because she discovered the first time that it made her even more sensitive for some reason.

She was now wriggling in the lake "abusing" both of her pussy and her nipple but she didn't stop there. Occasionally she moved her fingers from her vagina to her clitoris and alternated her left hand between her right and left breast, fondling, squirming and pulling them in every possible direction.

Despite she couldn't deny that the pleasure drove her to ecstasy her carnal desires were only one part of the reasons she does that. Every time she touched herself was because she was feeling depressed and it was not always alcohol's fault. But every time she did that she passed from felling the most pathetic woman on earth to felling…

…the most beautiful one.

And that was the reason she kept doing it despite if it embarrassed her or if it labeled her of desperate, because for her it was more than just pleasuring herself.

For her it was the more effective than the best therapist.

Or ten gallons of beer.

"Aaaah! I'm close…I'm close!" she chanted while wriggling more and more intensely in the water.

She pushed as many fingers of her right hand as she could and move her right hand again to her clitoris, trying to induce as much pleasure as possible.

And for that reason Cana forced her eyes to open and look at her womb, cause she knew what came next.

Thrusting her fingers to the bottom of her pussy and twisting her clitoris with all her might she finally exploded.

"Haaaaaaaaa!" a stream of her love juices shot out of her womb, a sight that increased he pleasure tremendously. But she didn't let go her clitoris and pussy till the last of her strengths left her, prolonging the orgasm as much as possible.

"Ahh… it just keeps getting better and better" she closed her eyes tired of the biggest orgasm she had until now.

"As much as I like the idea I can't fall asleep in the middle of the lake" disposed she started swimming to the shore when something caught her attention.

A ball of red light flying in the sky.

It wasn't like anything she had seen before. It looked to close for a comet, although she never heard of any comet that was red.

As she kept analyzing the object she had another revelation.

It wasn't flying; it was falling, right towards her, and fast.

Due to her drunkenness she realized this quite late, and by the time she rushed to land, it had already reached the water creating enormous waves sweeping Cana away.

She ended a few feet away from her stuff and as soon as she regained awareness she moved with inhuman speed to her bag, got her cards and prepared herself for whatever monstrosity the world had made for her.

Imagine her surprise when instead she got the body of a man dragged to the shore by the waves.

After a few seconds she realized what she was seeing and then run to check on him.

"Hey! Are you alright?" she shoved slightly trying to receive any signs of life.

And then she got them, a strong hand squeezing her right breast.

"Eeeep!" she squealed at the (and this is a big understatement) unexpected action.

"W-w-wait! W-what a-re y-you…" she tried to be angry at his boldness but she just came barely five minutes ago so she was still quite sensitive.

He tightened his grip worrying Cana because the shivers started traveling from her breast to her groin.

With her biggest effort she was about to shove his hand away when she heard his voice.

"Don't move" before she could dwell into it she felt an electric shock from his hand that traveled straight to her brain.

"Ouch! What was that for?!" she yelled feeling her excitation leaving her completely as well as her drunkenness.

"Wait, what?" she asked herself and indeed she felt as somber as before she started drinking as well absolutely not aroused "how did you that…?" but before he could answer her sudden somberness made her realize that the hand that grabbed her wasn't made of flesh and bone "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!" she yelled scared for his metal limb.

"Forget about that… g-garuda!" he yelled making her even more worried.

"Garuda? What is a…?"

 **"Grrraaaaaaaaaa!"** a tearing screech sounded from the place where the light landed, and not even a second later a nightmare creature emerged from there.

It was a muscular humanoid of some kind. It had two long bird like legs with three fingers on the front and one on the heel all armed with sharp claws and its knees bent backwards. Its arms had a similar fashion; long fingers ending in claws and sharp talons on his elbows. It head was similar to a vulture's or rather a helmet with vulture's shape; long peak on the front and bloody red eyes on the sides the head which seemed to be of pure steel as the rest of its bones.

And how did she know its bones were of steel? Because its red skin was translucent; she could see the bones, blood running through its veins, all his organs and a creepy beating and shiny heart.

But the worst part was its scent. She could smell it even from where she was. The closest thing she could compare it with was the smell of death.

'I'm gonna puke' she felt bile rose in her throat.

"That's… a garuda" her new friend said panting "hide… I'll… deal with him"

The way he breathed and moved worried Cana. So she checked on his condition and didn't like what she saw.

He had three deep gashes going through his chest and abdomen, and they were bleeding badly.

"I don't know who you are but you are not in condition to fight. Rest and let me handle this" she advanced towards the creature.

"You don't… get it, that…"

"Haven't you noticed?" she showed him her mark "I'm a Fairy tail wizard, even if it is a hopeless battle we don't falter!" at this he tried to stop her but she was already preparing her attack.

"Heaven, reverse death, mountain! Summoned lightning!" several beams of green light beams shot of her cards towards the creature.

If the monster had dodged or blocked her attack she would be surprised yet she could understand it.

But what it did instead…

It spread a single radiant red wing from its back. And in that instant its magic pressure increased tremendously.

It was a pressure that Cana only felt once in her life. But the killer point happened when her attack was about to reach him.

Her spell shattered in billons of particles.

The wizard watched awestruck at the power of the monster 'what kind of magic is that?' she asked in her head.

She took a cautious step back.

"Watch out!" her friend's voice sounded behind her just before he pulled her out of the place where she was standing, which was rather fortunate since the monster suddenly stomped on that place creating a huge crater and sending dust clouds everywhere.

The dust blinded can momentarily and when she could see again she noticed that she was in the arms of her "savior".

She took the chance to analyze better his face. He had neck-length black messy hair and had his left eye bandaged but was quite handsome (just quite huh?) also was giving her a concerned look. That and the way moon illuminated him right behind his head…

"Are you ok?" he pulled her out of her thoughts.

'Not now Cana' she recomposed herself "yeah thanks".

"Good" he let her go "now those you used were magic tarot cards?" he asked hopefully.

"Um, yes?" she answered not expecting him to make a smug grin.

"Perfect, pull out the man card, I have an idea" Cana was unsure.

"But a single card? How are we gonna defeat that… thing with that?" he gave her a soft smile making her feel slightly uncomfortable.

"I'll need your thrust" the way he asked for that left the woman with no other choice.

"Ok, what do I have to do?" she pulled out said card. The garuda looked ready to attack again.

"Just raise it high, I'll do the rest" he instructed positioning behind her while she did as instructed.

"Like this?" she lifted the card as high as she could.

"Good, now don't move from there until I give you the signal".

"Just what are you…?"

"Weather grenade: lightning!" his metal hand shot something to the sky, and then it exploded covering the sky with thunderous clouds.

But when she turned her gaze to him, she saw something even more shocking.

A mechanic wing appeared from his back.

And just like with the garuda his magic pressure skyrocketed.

Before Cana could ask him, the creature was already on her ready to take her life.

And before it could sever her head she heard the man saying something that intrigued her even more.

"Garuda-slayer…" the monster claw stopped dead in its tracks as if paralyzed.

"…arcane ghost!" his body transformed into pure electricity and shot towards the card in the blink of an eye.

The light that it emanated blinded Cana and the garuda for moments before it shot towards the clouds.

"Now" she heard a whisper in her head. She didn't think of it more and run of the place where she was standing.

And with good reasons because in that same spot, where the garuda was currently in, a column of light fell from the clouds.

The creature didn't stand three seconds before it turned into ashes.

Cana watched stunned at the show; that was a level of magic had met only twice in her entire life.

The column became more and more slender with time until it disappeared, revealing the man behind it, already folding his wing.

And then falling to the ground.

"Hey!" the woman ran to his side, and to her relief he was still alive

"So... how do you like it?" he asked her obviously hiding his pain.

"I had to admit it was awesome, but don't speak you are wounded" she helped him to sit.

"Nah, im more concerned about the… poison" Cana covered her mouth with her hand "don't worry, I still have time before it… becomes fatal. But still I ran out of… antidote"

"How much time do we have?" she asked concerned

"About… three days at least"

"In my guild there's someone who can deal with poison, if you let us help you"

"No problem ma'am" she helped him to stand "but" she sent him a questioning look "you may want to dress up before we go"

The woman looked down and noticed with all the commotion she never realized she was still nak…

A cloud of dust appeared on the place where she was standing.

She reappeared behind the rock where she left her stuff already dressed with a deep blush and a scowl on her face.

"You could have told me before" she growled "not just staring"

"Hey, is not my fault you have a stunningly beautiful body" he said with perfect straight face, deepening her blush.

She recomposed herself "still you are pervert" she said.

"Says the one who swims in public lake naked" she blushed again but decided to change the subject quickly.

"Well how about you tell me what was that thing and how is that you have the same power?" he made a painful expression.

"It is a long story" Cana sighed.

"Well maybe you can tell me on the way back" she headed where she came from.

"Maybe" he followed her.

While they where walking she couldn't stop herself from staring at his mechanic arm.

"It doesn't matter if you ask, you won't bother me" he said with half smile.

"Then, what happened to you?" she asked with pity.

"But pity is starting getting on me" Cana sent him an apologetic look "lets just say I was quite reckless in the past" he answered with shame.

"Ok then who build that?" she asked curious.

"I did" he answered hiding well his pride.

"Really? That's impressive" she praised him.

"Thanks, you can ask me more if you want belly-san" she giggled at the nickname "oh come on you can't tell me no one calls you that"

"Well no, actually" now he sent her a pity face making her chuckle more "but I don't mind if want to call me that"

"Is not a "want" matter, I MUST do it! I can't let such an appropriate nickname waste like that!" she kept chuckling until she realized something.

"We still haven't introduced ourselves, my name is Cana Alberona, is a pleasure" she offered her hand.

"Zet" he answered

"Z?"

"My name is Zet, just Zet" she shook her hand with her mechanic one. Cana thought she would fell awkward, after all that was the hand that grabbed roughly her breast 'I still have to get him for that' but she was surprised of how… gentle it felt, like if it was a real hand.

They looked to the eyes and locked there for a few seconds, unaware that a hooded figure watched them from the sky.

' **Just a bit more… Funichō-sama'** it thought before disappeared.


	2. Chapter 1: S-class feelings

**A FEW THINGS I FORGOT TO ADD:**

 **1: I'm making a poll of who should be Gray's romantic interest so go to my profile and cast a vote, please (do I need to beg?!)**

 **2:Maybe you are thinking I'm rushing too much in Natsu and Erza's relationship, well that's because of two reasons: they had the whole paradise tower arc before to fall for each other, and they just seem so cute to me that I couldn't wait to add the smoochy stuff.**

 **3: You probably know this already, but I don't own any of the images I use. I pull them out of internet like most people (I should learn to draw... but if you want to help then let me know!)**

 **Now with nothing more to say enjoy! (and review)**

* * *

S –class feelings

 _Yes, is just like I remember…_

"This tower will explode a soon as the etherion gets out of control. But… if I merge with the etherion I can avoid it…"

"¡¿What are you talking about you fool!? ¡If you do that you'll…!"

 _That's what he said._

"Agh!"

"¡Erza!"

 _I did wrong; I know that now, but…_

"¡Don't worry about me, Im sure I'll stop it!"

"¡Stop!"

"¡Aaaah!"

"¡Don't do it, Erza!"

… _there was just no other way._

"Natsu…"

 _I took his face in my hand._

"…I couldn't have live without Fairy tail. A world without my friends in unacceptable. All of you are really important to me"

 _I never told him how much I mean those words_

"If I can save them all I don't have reason to doubt. Even if I loose my body…"

 _I'm such an idiot_

"…I'll do it!"

 _I saw him screaming something, but I couldn't hear him anymore_

'Natsu, please take care of all for me…'

 _I think I should apologize again_

'…because I'll always be at your side"

 _I smile to myself. At least I wasn't wrong with that._

 _I remembered when I saw my… funeral._

 _But then I skipped it, good, I don need to see it again._

 _Next thing I saw was waking up… in his arms_

"We are the same; all of us are the same"

 _Thank you, thanks for all._

"Don't do something like that never again"

"Natsu…"

"¡NEVER!"

 _Don't worry, I promise I'll never make you go through that again._

"Ok, Natsu…"

 _I lay mi forehead against his._

"…thank you"

 _I remember now, for a second there I thought we were going to…_

 _Wait…_

 _Something seems off…_

 _Our faces are approaching more._

 _What's going on? The rest should have arrived by now._

 _He is taking my face in his hands._

 _I… what am I supposed to do?_

 _Is this a second chance? To do what?_

 _He pulls me even closer._

 _If this is a second chance I got it for a reason._

 _I wonder…_

 _Our lips are millimeters apart._

SMASH!

A woman with long red hair wearing armor and a blue skirt hit a post while walking.

"What the hell?" Erza Scarlet said massaging her swollen nose.

Then she realized that she was daydreaming, very deeply 'why was imagining that?' she thought.

Sighing she decided to ignore it and resumed her way.

Currently she was dragging a large cart filled with even larger luggage returning home from her last job.

It was about a dark guild that took control of the city. No one dared to say anything to them since they kidnapped many children including the mayor's son and threatened to kill them if someone intervened.

Luckily, someone managed to send a request for help to Fairy tail. The master labeled as an S-class job for obvious reasons.

An entire guild, human shields, streets patrolled 24/7… just a walk in the park for her.

But while she fulfilled the mission she didn't felt in the mood to celebrate, because the city of the mission brought back painful memories for her making her even daydream.

The Akane city.

She thought she had gone over it but the memories crept into her mind despite her best efforts.

The paradise tower.

Her friends.

Living as a slave.

Jellal.

That last one led her to even more depressing memories.

Falling in love with him.

Being betrayed by him.

Reencountering with him more than once.

Understanding that they will never be together and parting in good terms.

Did they? Did she really accept the idea of…?

SMASH!

Again.

This time she growled but quickly calmed herself. The guild didn't need more deeds.

Now she decided focusing solely on walking, luckily she was barely one kilometer away from the train station.

But still one thought remained in her head, one she couldn't deny and agreed completely to it.

'I never actually thanked him' she mused with shame expression 'I repay for all you have done for me. Be sure of it, Natsu' with her mind settled she continued her way thinking in what she could give him that she would like.

* * *

Erza had already arrived to Magnolia. All the way there she had been thinking how she could thank Natsu for being such a good… friend. She felt kind of odd using that word to describe him; it didn't seem to do justice to him now she thought. But she shoved that feeling away; she had more problems right now.

Despite all the time she had to think until now she couldn't imagine what she could possibly give him that express how she felt, and that lead to another problem.

Cause not even herself knew what she mean by "how I feel".

She knew she had to sort that out as soon as possible or she couldn't sleep at night.

And if it was not enough, Natsu wasn't what is called a sensible man.

But before she could think more she was already in front of her guild gates.

She sighed 'well it's not like I'm on a hurry' and then opened the door

"I'm bac…" she avoided the attack of a flying chair.

As usual, most of the people inside the guild were in the middle of a bar fight.

"Welcome back Erza" yet Mirajane Strauss managed to welcome Erza with her trademark smile, like if the guild wasn't always fighting.

"Hello Mira" Erza smiled too then looked at the cloud of dust made by various wizards fighting.

She rubbed her temples "¿why are they fighting this time?" she asked with a tired expression. Mirajane sweat dropped.

"Well actually…"

"Wait a moment! Why are we fighting this time!?" a sobbing Max tried to crawl out of the cloud but it was soon pulled back.

"I don't remember! But be sure I'll be the last one standing!" Erza's heart jumped a bit at the sound of that voice, like it usually did lately.

The commotion eventually stopped and the dust cloud faded revealing a man standing victorious on a mountain of defeated men.

It was mid-height with pink messy hair and was wearing white short trousers that reached to his knees and a blue coat with orange borders opened to show his well toned muscles to the delight of most of women of the guild (including you know who) but of course none of them will never admit it.

"¡Hahaha, you will have to try better than that!" Natsu Dragneel exclaimed on top of the mountain of humbled bodies.

Erza watched with a warm smile at the antics of the object of her thoughts. But it soon turned into a scowl at the antics of her fellow mage.

"Natsu" she started quietly making him to choke on his saliva.

"H-h-hi E-e-rza w-when-n di-d you…?" he couldn't finish because she just extended her right hand and pointed down. The effect was immediate; in less than a second Natsu was below her finger bowing.

"S-sorry" he uttered with downcast expression. Erza suddenly realized that she didn't like him making that face. What's more she felt bad because she was the one who caused it. She sighed and tried to take it smoothly for once.

"Ok could you just tell me what happened?" she asked leaving her scary side to the surprise of Natsu, opting for a gentle but firm treat.

The dragon-slayer didn't even bother in hiding his surprise. He was about to ask Erza about it but she just shook his head. He let it go for the moment.

"Err… like I said I don't know exactly how it started but I remember someone saying something about you like "not feminine" or something and, well, one thing let to another" he furrowed his eyebrows "I really didn't like it" Erza blushed and felt warm in her chest. She signaled him to stand up.

"So you do know how it started?" she asked with a small smile, he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, kind of. Sooo are you (gulp) mad about it?"

"Maybe" Natsu could feel cold sweat running down his back "but let's forget about it for now" the relief on Natsu's face was almost comical at least for her.

"Thanks, hey want something to eat? My treat" he surprised her again, as well everyone inside the building. Not even the crickets could fill the silence after that.

'Why would he invite ME of all people to eat something?' she thought (actually all in the guild were thinking something similar).

After a few seconds she noticed that Natsu was still waiting an answer so she finally spoke.

"Yes sure" she tried to sound natural so he wouldn't notice. What wasn't hard really, after all it's Natsu Dragneel we are talking about.

"Great, strawberry cake?" he asked with his trademark grin.

"Yes!" she almost yelled making Natsu raise an eyebrow. She blushed slightly "I mean… how did you knew?" she was actually curious about that.

He looked at her blankly "aside from the fact that you eat one at every possible occasion?" she blushed more.

"Yes, I should have guessed haha" they moved to one of the tables and ask Mira for the food. The rest of the people suddenly were sitting as well like nothing out of ordinary was happening.

"So how was it?" he asked.

"I have to admit that guild was a quite decent opponent; they were pretty strong yes, but what surprised me the most was how well they were organized. But in the end they chose a very obvious place to hide the hostages" she told him how easy was to deduct they were at the commissary cells.

"Heee, I wish I was there" Natsu whined and Erza chuckled.

"I don't think so, it was pretty hard for me being subtle enough and you…" she trailed off making him pout.

"Well forget about that, Mira told me the reward was a new armor?" his eyes shined in anticipation. She made a smug grin.

"It was, reequip!" she shined for a moment and when the light dimmed she was wearing a white robe with light pink flower patterns on the borders, gold armbands, greaves that covered the knee down letting her thighs uncovered. The robe was opened showing a corset also of gold that covered her womanhood, her stomach and only half of her breasts. As Natsu noticed, the corset pushed her breasts slightly up so they looked bigger. Aside from that she was holding a golden shakujō staff which seemed to be extremely sharp.

"Acolyte armor" she said

"That's cool but I have to say I have seen better" Erza felt more disappointed than angry "what can it do?" she was glad that he asked.

"In what battle means it gives me more endurance and also…" she made a small cut in her hand with her staff. Natsu widened his eyes but remained quiet. After a second the wound started closing and soon her hand was good as new "…it does that". Natsu had to collect his jaw from the floor.

"I take back what I said before that's awesome!" she returned to her Heart kreuz armor, for some reason she was happy that he liked it in the end.

"Thank you" Mirajane arrived with the cake and gave Erza an odd look before leaving "and how about you? Did you have any interesting job lately?" she started eating.

"I wanted to, but lately they are all boring or had lame rewards, or both" Natsu sighed "everyone else is getting cool jobs instead of me"

"I'm sure you are exaggerating"

"It's true! Even Happy went to a job without me" he whined. Erza was surprised.

"But what happened?" she asked 'that damn cat' she growled slightly.

"I told him Gajeel and Wendy were going o a job together and as soon as I said 'Lily and Charle are going too' he ran after them" Erza sweat-dropped.

"I guess is true when they say that love makes you do strange things" she said glad that she didn't have to deal with that problem.

"If you say so" he didn't get her point "man I wish I could do more exiting work" hearing this Erza froze with the piece of cake she was about to eat halfway from her mouth.

'Of course! It was so obvious!' she mentally face-palmed "Natsu wait here" she leaved a dumfounded Natsu behind. She finally knew what to give him.

After two minuets she returned with a sheet of paper on her hand.

"And what about this one?" she gave the paper to him. When he saw it the dragon-slayer's eyes grew to comical proportions.

"B-but th-this one i-isn't S-class?" he asked.

"It is, but if you go with me I'm sure the master won't mind" after this she heard quiet gasp from the people but as soon as she turned her gaze to them they moved their heads away pretending they weren't listening.

Erza sighed and then looked again at the Salamander. Stars were falling down his eyes "so what do you say?" she asked like not knowing the answer.

"YATTA!" he scared all the pigeons of Magnolia "You are the best Erza!" he pulled her into a bear hug lifting her up and making her heart skip a bit "when do we go? Can we go now?"

"I haven't unpacked yet… so yeah we can go as soon as you are ready" she signaled him to pull her down"

"YES! I'll be back in a flash!" he ran out of the building "I'm all fired up!" could be heard in the distance.

Erza smiled warmly, and then felt someone staring behind her. She turned and saw almost the entire guild (the rest were out) with their jaws on the floor. A single scowl was enough to make them run for their lives.

She moved to the bar for a glass of water while she waited and soon Mira appeared behind the counter, giggling.

"What is so funny?" she just giggled more.

"Just what are scheming?" Erza raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know what you are talking about" the demon narrowed her eyes and smiled playfully.

"Hooo? So this is how you want to play?" Titania narrowed her eyes too almost wanting to take her challenge, but then thought better of it and sighed.

"Ok since you wont let it go…" Mira shook her head "…I'll tell you but at least promise you'll keep this a secret" she pleaded taking a sip of her water.

"I won't tell anyone" she said 'I will tell everyone' she thought with an inner evil smile.

"Well then, you remember when I went with Natsu and the rest to that trip in Akane?" she nodded "and how we ended in the paradise tower" Mirajane's smile fell.

"I do… what happened?"

"Nothing, I just realized Natsu saved me there, now that I think of it he saved us many times and I… we never really thank him" Mira pondered her words for a moment and then nodded in agreement.

"I see… what else?"

"I don't know…" she made the same evil face as before. Erza sighed again

"Lately I've been thinking too much on the paradise tower and then I think of him and… I don't know I just feel weird" she said with a blush, and then notice that Mira was using all her might to stifle an 'Awwwww!' "You seem to have an idea"

She was about to use the "its not my place to tell you" argument but her older self kept telling her that it would be too cliché.

"Weeell?" Erza was growing impatient/anxious. Mira waited for her to take a gulp of water and then…

"…you like him" as you can guess she spit the water in a stream creating a small rainbow. When she was done she looked at Mirajane with horror, yet, with furious blush on her face.

"¿¡W-w-what!? I-I?! With…like…that's impo… what makes you think that?!" the other woman found her expression to cute to resist, so she explode in giggles.

Erza watched her embarrassed and annoyed for her laugh.

"Will you keep laughing at me or will you tell me why did you thought of… that?" she asked and she forced herself to stop.

"Hihihi… well…hihi to begin with if you didn't like him you would've laugh with me instead of…hihihi blushing and stuttering so cutely" she started giggling again and Erza just deepened her blush.

"You're delusional, if I liked him don't you think I would notice?" she asked rhetorically.

"No actually, it's called denial" she tried to respond but she silence her with her hand "if someone is in denial she can manage to fool herself, but I saw your face when he hugged you, and that wasn't a face of just gratitude" Erza was still unsure.

"It is not like that, Natsu and I are friends and that's all, I don't have any other feelings for him" Mira sighed almost irritated.

"As you wish, but still let me give you a piece of advice" she groaned but listened "remember to distinguish love for a person from gratitude for his deeds, if you confuse them someone will get hurt at the end"

"…thanks but it won't be a problem, like I said Natsu and I are just…"

"I'm ready!" Erza jumped a little at the sudden voice of their conversation topic but recomposed quickly.

"Alright. Lets depart then"

"Good luck and be careful!" Mirajane said goodbye to them. When they were out of earshot she let out a playful and slightly evil laugh.

"I cant wait to tell the girls about this" she began cleaning Erza's glass "Natsu is very lucky that a woman like Erza likes him, I'm so happy for them" she giggled "Natsu and Erza, who would say" then something clicked in her head.

'I really can't say who worries me the most' she sweat dropped

* * *

After leaving the guild Erza and Natsu went straight to Magnolia train station and then took the train to the city of Minstrel much to the misery of the dragon slayer.

She didn't like seeing him suffering like that so Erza let him rest in her lap (this time she didn't slammed his head with her armor first) but she didn't expect Natsu's face to soften that much.

She smiled warmly at this but her cheeks painted in a light pink. Although her blush tripled when he fell asleep in her lap. She spent the rest of the trip lost in her recent thoughts so much that she didn't notice when she started caressing his hair.

It was not until they arrived to their stop that she noticed it; she withdrew her hand so fast that she hit her armor and almost sprained her thumb.

Erza stifled a curse and then tried to wake up Natsu, which wasn't easy. The train was about to leave and he had to wake up it will take them with it. So she did the smartest thing that came to her head.

She threw him of her lap.

"Ouch! Wha? We arrived already? That was fast" he commented.

"Well it wasn't, you were asleep almost all the trip" she chuckled.

"What? I fell asleep in a transport?" he looked at her astonished "How? What was different?" Erza immediately thought about the fact that he slept in her lap but discarded that crazy idea instantly.

"Just one more mystery of life" they traveled the rest of the way by foot. The client lived on the upper town so they walked like fifteen minutes.

All the way there Erza threatened Natsu to behave well in a very menacing way, effectively scaring the shit out of him but also encouraged him to give his best in her first official (you know what I mean) S-rank mission in a way only Erza does. Normal people would feel intimidated but Natsu could only say "I'm all fired up!" Erza beamed with pride.

She was glad that they could speak like always, not even a hint of awkwardness. It seemed like all the feelings for him or like Mirajane said was only a passing phase.

Wait a moment.

But if she didn't have feelings for him to begin with… right?

Erza sighed 'this will be more difficult than I thought'

Natsu caught by the corner of the eye her thoughtful expression "something's wrong?" he asked.

"No nothing, it's just I…" she suddenly got an idea of how to answer. While it could only escalate the problem even more she had to get that doubt out of her head "...was just thinking, why did you invited me to eat?" he made a panic face.

"Because you are my friend and… friends do that sort of things right?" Erza raised an eyebrow.

"But you never invited anyone else before" she pressed and he started to sweat.

"Well you know… I... happened to remember that Igneel once told me to be a gentleman with women so I decided to give it a shot jaja" her face told him that she wasn't buying it but before she pressed more he spoke again "so what was the job about again?" she sighed and dropped the subject for now.

"You accepted the job without knowing what it asked for?" she asked rhetorically and handled the request paper to him "a noble man had just inherited a chateau in the forest and sent a few of his men to clean it a bit more than a week before the request was sent since it was abandoned for five years now, but they still haven't returned" she said troubled.

"So he wants us to rescue them? It doesn't seem so complicated" Natsu wondered why the master would label it as S-class, Erza shook her head.

"That's not all. At first that was the original mission, here it says that another guild took it, but the mages haven't returned either" he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Damn, does it says which guild it was?" he asked concerned.

"No, but it does says that the actualized request, this one, was sent just the second day the mages were disappeared, and it had been in the guild board at least a week now" Natsu scowled obviously pissed.

"But then how is possible that Laxus or Mira didn't notice it? Someone should have done something!"

"…that's a good question. And I guess I have part of the blame too" she looked ashamed, making Natsu feel guilty".

"I'm sorry Erza I didn't…"

"I know" she gave him a reassuring smile "but you were still right, ignoring one of our fellow guilds is an unforgivable sin" Natsu looked at her stunned, Erza really had power on her eyes

"But I will fix that mistake now, please help me Natsu" she expected to show her his trademark grin, but imagine her surprise when squished her shoulder sending a shudder through her body.

"You know you don't need to ask" his eyes were surprisingly gentle "but I won't allow you to blame for this even for a second, Erza" when she thought he couldn't surprise her more he took her chin in his hand almost making her heart stop "so cheer up, we will fix together, as always" he smile in a way that made her cheeks redden without control.

'Why am I allowing this, why is he having this effect on me?' thinking that was all she could do.

"Are you ok with that, Erza?" at that moment she didn't know how to answer so she just nodded dumbly.

"Yosh! Then lets keep going!" he yelled with his throwing his fist to the air. Erza regained consciousness she walked behind Natsu trying to dispel her blush.

'I can't just ignore what just happened' she mused but then shook her head 'but what else I can do?' she moved next to him again, trying her best to keep a regular heartbeat.

* * *

"Well that's quite a house" Erza commented while Natsu had to collect his jaw from the floor.

They were just in front of the gates of what had to be most luxurious mansion they had ever seen.

It was at least thee times bigger than the guild, it was built in the XV century architecture style, it had square shape and had three floors. On one of the corners it had a tower with one floor extra that acted as a viewer. The walls were covered with windows; the walls were made, apparently, of marble and the roof of blue tile. The main door was double, made of mahogany and the frame was carved with angels and some cherubim.

'This one has to be wealthiest client I ever had' she thought. Then she noticed that Natsu was still gawking at the mansion. She hit the back of his chest napping him out of his daze and then moved to the bell and pressed it.

"Welcome, what business do you have here?" a bored voice asked

"We are Fairy tail wizards, we came here for…"

"Visitors must make an appointment first and then wait ghak!" a loud commotion could be heard.

"Sorry about that, please com in" a more polite voice said, and then the gates started opening.

Erza raised an eyebrow but nevertheless both of them moved inside the building.

The lobby was as luxurious as the outside, so Erza had to wipe the stupid gaze out of Natsu again.

A brunette woman not much older than them received them. Her eyes landed first on Erza and then Natsu, it's worth saying that she inhaled quite sharp when she saw him, making the red-haired feel kind of uncomfortable.

"Y-you are Natsu Dragneel from Fairy tail!" she exclaimed with a blush. He smirked.

"Yup, that's me" her eyes glimmered. Erza cleared her throat

"And I'm Erza Scarlet also from Fairy tail" she said with imposing face.

"Yeah I know" she said with her eyes glued to Natsu's abs "are you here for the master's request Natsu-sama?"

'Sama?' they thought in unison, albeit for different reasons.

"Yes we are" Erza interjected.

"That's great! Master will be so happy, come on I'll lead you to the common room" she took Natsu's right arm snapping him away from Erza before anyone could complain.

They left a flabbergasted Titania behind who regained consciousness after a few seconds and then followed them.

'That bitch' a completely spontaneous thought hit Erza's head, but when she analyzed it she couldn't phantom why she had it.

After all it wasn't the maid's fault that she reacted like that with Natsu; it was very likely that Natsu had more than one fan after the grand magic games and she absolutely couldn't blame her for staring at his well toned muscles…

The color of her face matched her hair. She hit her head trying to shove those images away but it proved to be pointless.

She growled, this just wasn't her day.

When they arrived they saw a big room filled with golden ornaments and what seemed to be expensive furniture.

They could see a man in his twenties at most sitting in a chair back to them. He had short light brown hair, almost blonde and had a conflicted expression on his face.

"Master Ignatius, we have guests" the maid said bowing.

"I know, thanks again Tamara" she stood next to him "please sit" he signaled the chairs in front of him. They sat albeit Natsu a bit begrudgingly; he was slightly worried of what would Erza do to him if he damaged it.

"It's a pleasure to meet both of you, Ignatius of the house Marini at your service" he presented himself "I had to admit, when I sent the request I would have never imagined that my two idols would answer my call" he was obviously trying to hide his excitement but the fairies didn't mind at all

"I don't even know where to start, Erza-sama you were astonishing at the pandemonium, you made my knees weaken! And then your battle in the last day, it was simply breathtaking!" she felt flattered to say at least.

"And you Natsu-sama, I can't even describe it, your words at the chariot, you actually made me cry" Natsu being Natsu wasn't sure how to take it "but your fight with Sting and Rogue? I can only say that you showed them who the boss is" they shared a smug smile.

"I also wanted to apologize for the attitude of the guard, it seems he is the one who should be taking all those etiquette lessons" he looked at them apologetically.

"There is no need to Ignatius-san, we…"

"You should try to use proper honorifics with a noble, while in his house" her tone was cold at least, but the look Erza gave her was way colder"

"Tamara-san right?" Natsu spoke to her in low voice "noble or not I won't stand anyone who speaks to my friends like that" he said with determination making Titania to smile warmly and blush, but also Tamara.

"Of course, sorry Natsu-sama" she bowed

"I don't think Natsu is the one you should apologize with" Ignatius said reproachfully. She opened her mouth but he was faster "why don't you bring our guests some refreshment?" she sighed in defeat, then bowed and then left, not before taking a last glance at Natsu's pectorals.

Tense silence fell on them.

"I know, I have quite unique subordinates" the house lord looked ashamed.

"Oi, Ignatius-san, mind if I ask you, how you got so much money? I mean I bet is more than I earned in my entire life and you don't look very older than me."

"Natsu…" Erza said quiet, making him panic

"It's ok Erza-sama that's my favorite question… actually that leads us to the reason you came here, you remember the chateau I mentioned on the request?" they nodded "well that one as well as this mansion and all the money I owe it to my uncle who... pass out two months ago" his face saddened.

"I'm sorry for your lost" Erza said. She knew perfectly how it felt to lose someone dear to you.

"Thanks" he smiled a bit "now the thing is that while I have some good memories I that place I don't think it is necessary to have more than one house so I sent a few of my servants to clean it and then I would turn it into an orphanage. The only think I would like to keep is the books on the library, more than a pile of knowledge in the will my uncle said there I could find answers"

"Answers to what?" Natsu was curious. Ignatius pulled out a necklace of his shirt and showed it to them.

It was a celestial key.

But it wasn't like any key they have seen; according to Lucy all keys were silver or golden in the case of zodiac ones. But this one was transparent, the light fragmented through it giving it various colors. The emblem covered the whole handle, it was some kind of star with and inner circle filled with dozens of points and an outer one with even more. The body was covered in some kind of ribbons in a double helix pattern. In the "teeth" you could see three diamonds that converged in the center, creating a geometric shape with three points.

"It is beautiful" Erza commented.

"When I took it to be analyzed none of the celestial wizards could tell me what kind of key it was. Yet all of them assure me that there was magic in it, very powerful"

"And your uncle told you that in the library you could find out what it is?" he nodded.

"I know it might not sound like a big deal but it was my uncle's last will, and also my servants as well as the first guild that took my request. So please help me"

"No need to ask man, if it means so much to you and if there are people's life at stake I don't need to think it" Natsu said with passion.

"Thank you, you have no idea how much I appreciate it" something clicked on Erza's mind.

"Oh yes, could you tell us which guild was the one who disappeared?" he facepalmed.

"I knew I forgot something on that paper" he said "you should have met them in the magic games, it was Mermaid heel" Natsu his teeth while Erza's blood froze.

"And… who were the wizards that went there?" Natsu choked. Ignatius felt that they were very worried so he answered soon

"Kagura Mikazuchi and a girl called Milliana"


	3. Chapter 2 We'll fly together

**VERY IMPORTANT:**

 **1I'm making a poll of who should be Gray's romantic interest so for heaven's sake, go to my profile and cast a damn vote!**

 **2I'm going a few days on vacation so any more chapters will delay a bit.**

 **3I'm too tired to revise this chapter so if it has any mistakes dont kill me please**

 **Ah! and also dont forget to review!**

* * *

Chapter 2

We'll fly together

The time seemed to stop in the room when the noble man Ignatius pronounced those names.

Kagura and Milliana.

Natsu looked simply shocked. According to Erza they have been missing for more than a week now, but when he heard which wizards were… he hated to imagine who could beat such strong women like them.

He turned his gaze to Erza and didn't like what he saw.

Her eyes were trembling and the fear on her face was almost palpable. She just couldn't believe what she just heard. Her childhood friend and her surrogate sister were missing and she ignored until now.

"Erza…"

"Ignatius-sama" she cut him off "we need to go there ASAP" he felt slightly intimidated.

"Of course, I'll tell one of my servants to take you there" he left the room. Our mages fell on a tense silence each on their own thoughts.

Erza was mentally cursing herself with all the profanities she knew and clenching her fists while Natsu could only feel sickly worried around her, the two missing mages became a second priority.

"I can't believe I didn't…" she mumbled "all this time they needed me and I…" Natsu pulled her into a half hug, but she unconsciously leaned more into his embrace so he gave her a full hug.

"Everything will be fine" he tried to soothe her.

"But how will I be able to look Kagura to the eyes now? You think I didn't notice the way she sees me? I've fail…"

"I dare you to finish that" he made her look into his eyes "you have never given up before and I won't let you start now" he said with passion "if you didn't noticed the post before it doesn't matter anymore, you are here now and you won't solve anything moping around" he took her chin in his hand causing the same effect as before.

"So do the same as usual: take the bull by the horns, cause that is your best quality"

To say she was moved by his words would by understatement of the history. She felt flattered, inspired and eager to prove him right. How could she blame herself after those words?

'When did he become so…so…'

'Romantic' the word appeared spontaneously in her head making her blush but she quickly shoved it away.

"Thank you" she said 'for so many things, I don't think I'll ever make it up to you' she changed her expression for her usual determinate one.

"Then lets waste anymore time, as soon as the transport is ready we'll head to that accursed place and save our friends" she said.

"Now that's the Erza we all know and love" Natsu said with his trademark grin almost making her heart stop.

'L-l-l-l-love?!' she spluttered in her own mind. Luckily, Ignatius returned and told them that two horses awaited them outside. At first Erza wanted to go in a magic vehicle but then remember Natsu's problem with that kind of vehicles. The noble man convinced her telling that it wasn't to far and to not underestimate the mounts of the house Marini.

On the way, Natsu couldn't avoid taking quick glances at his companion to check on her but he could see that she was quite better; the down mood seemed to be gone and all he could see was the determined gaze he liked so much.

Yes Natsu liked when she made that face. He would never tell to anyone but he accepted it quite long ago. It gave her a very imposing presence; it wasn't still her scary one but it reminded him how strong she was and that it was idea messing with her.

And when he remembered all the pain she went through, the loses she had to live with and still manage to make face like that. He would be lying if he said that he didn't admire her

No, she was more like his role model.

He smiled warmly not taking his from her, admiring her while he still had the chance.

But of course, the universe plot against him and told Erza that someone was staring at her, so she turned her gaze to the side and froze there.

The smile that the dragon-slayer managed to pull, plus the strange behavior she's been having around him lately, was more than enough to melt her heart.

She literally paralyzed at the sight. His lips curved slightly upwards and his warm eyes trying to transmit her all the feelings he had for her.

Admiration.

Understanding.

Respect.

Responsibility.

Desire to protect.

Bonding.

In short, all could be resumed in one word. But her mind didn't dare to use it. If you want to rationalize it, she was terrified to do it. Despite she couldn't phantom any reasons to be afraid of something like that.

"Erza" she suddenly found herself in his arms riding to the sunset.

"Y-yes?" she said with the tone and face of a woman ready to grovel at his feet to do anything he wants.

A rain of sakura petals fall from nowhere as their faces started approaching.

"Look out" his voice gave her the image of a charming prince.

"What do you mean?" their lips a few centimeters away.

"LOOK OUT!" Natsu yelled pulling her out of her dreams. But it was too late since her horse suddenly stopped launching her towards a…

SLAM!

Who would say it? A post.

One would think that with the recent events, Natsu would have run to check her but instead he took the horses to a safe distance.

"Grrrr" he knew that it was coming, like an unstoppable force of nature.

"Just why in the hell there are SO MANY DAMN POSTS!" she screamed plucking said post of the ground and then broke it in half with her knee. Bu she didn't stop there. She started hitting the remains with various armors and weapons.

The dragon-slayer… and the two horses as well watched with terror at the woman tearing apart an unanimated object whose only crime was being planted at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Just when there were only splinters left she calmed down. She moved to Natsu and then rode her horse again like if nothing had happened.

"Err…something's wrong?" he asked cautiously.

"Why do you ask?" she said angry and with coldness.

"F-for nothing, n-n-nothing really".

The previous smile that he made was now replaced by a fearful face that looked anywhere but her.

Erza sighed; while the current situation with the dragon-slayer was really awkward and even scary it was preferable to him making that kind of look. Thousands of time she had seen it but just recently she realized that she didn't like it at all.

Especially coming from him.

It made her feel… wrong. The knight wizard knew that whatever happened between them. She wanted Natsu, him and everyone else of course, to see her more like a woman and not just Titania.

'But how? I've been building that image since I set foot in the guild' she thought 'maybe if talk him about simpler matters' Erza wondered what she could speak of, and then it hit her. It was embarrassing as hell and it could give more problems than solutions but it was the only thing her feminine instinct gave her, or what she identified as her feminine instinct.

"Natsu" she called his attention "I wanted to ask you something for a while now and I would like you to give an honest answer"

"Sure, shot" he really hoped it would be something inoffensive.

"Do you remember when Laxus tried to took control of the guild? And Evergreen transformed me and the rest in stone?" his hopes started dying "and then you tried to free me… by touching me?" he paled and started to sweat bullets.

"Y-you are still mad about that?" he chocked

"Maybe" Natsu paled even more; she couldn't stop herself "but that's not what I wanted to ask you" he released the breath he was holding.

"What I wanted to know is why you wanted to touch me specifically? I mean I'm sure Lucy's are bigger" she felt a pang of jealousy and missed that color left Natsu's face again.

"Oh that… well you know… because Lucy is… and you are…like… and I was like…haha it's funny when you think about it…and, oh look we arrived" Erza looked forward. The road had ended in front of a forest and you could see the chateau on the like half kilometer into it.

"True, but you still haven't…"

"I'll race you to the gates!" he disappeared in a cloud of smoke leaving a dumbfounded Erza behind… that quickly recomposed and earned a predator face.

"I'll never be defeated!" she pushed her horse to the limits and a little further, but Natsu had a head start and the chateau wasn't t long reach so he won in the end. It was a photo finish but still.

"IIIIIIII WON!" Natsu gloated "how do you like it Erza!"

"That wasn't fair and you know it!" deep inside, she just fell like a bad loser "and you just run away from the question! Don't think I'll let it…" she noticed her companion worried expression. She was about to ask him what's wrong but then she felt it.

In short, the whole building gave bad vibes.

It wasn't any magic pressure; it was something more instinctive, like a powerful killing intent.

But the scary part was that they didn't felt aggression at all. They felt… agony.

It was so thick and so vivid that they knew that whatever was inside will kill whoever approaches.

Any sane being would turn around and leave relieved of doing it… but well, we are dealing with Fairy tail wizards aren't we?

They just looked at each other, nodded, and then entered.

The chateau was built in a similar way to the mansion; it was just a floor shorter and had an H shape.

When they were at the main gate they had to work hard to open it since the hinges were rusty and the door was quite heavy.

Erza could swear that the squeak sounded just like a child's wail.

A courtesy: if Erza had any weaknesses they were haunted houses (nothing more to say).

So when she saw the lobby she had to fight the urge of hold Natsu's arm. But then she failed miserably when the doors closed behind them.

'Just why are we here again' she immediately remembered all she owed to Natsu 'a-and to save Kagura and Milliana of course'.

The only source of light was the skylights and it was already getting dark outside. But they could distinguish something in the dark, the silhouette of a boy in fetal position facing them.

Needless to say that Titania's blood froze at the sight. She tightened her grip on Natsu' arm without noticing it, but he noticed her going tense and didn't like it at all.

"Oi, over there, who are you? And what's happening here?" Erza's first impulse was shutting Natsu's mouth for speaking to the house ghost like that but before she could do it they heard something.

" _S…ay a…y"_ a whisper so low that they barely listened. They focused more.

" _Stay away"_ just that _"Stay…awayawayawayawayawayawayawayaway!"_ the boy suddenly crawled to them in ultra-fast slow motion and then showed its eyeless face and blood-dripping mouth for a fraction of second.

"KYAAAAAAAAA!" Erza yelled in horror before snuggling into Natsu and pressing her face into his chest; he was so scared that she completely forgot the action improperness.

But she did notice one thing: Natsu' arms hugging her protectively. This lasted for mere seconds but it felt like an eternity for her.

She could smell his scent; he smelled like barbecue, funny but made want to inhale more deeply. She could even hear his heart beat that was infinitely calmer than hers, like if the dragon-slayer kept it like that so it could calm the knight's.

After a few more seconds he patted her back a few times "its gone" he said.

A bit reluctantly, she left his embrace still with her eyes closed. She opened them and noticed that the creepy boy had gone.

Erza sighed in relief. She turned to Natsu and he gave her a reassuring smile. This reminded Titania of her little slip making her blush madly.

"Sorry" she said and he raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" Erza groaned.

"You know. For… snuggling into you" she mumbled barely audibly. Natsu looked at her blankly.

"I really don't know why you would have to apologize" she widened her eyes "I know how much you hate places like this and if you need me I'll help you however I can" all he get was Erza blushing more but this time at least the lack of light hide it.

"Thank you" was all she could say. They moved to explore the chateau with Erza never dropping Natsu' arm or her pale terrified expression. The first place they checked was the main hall. The only thing that called their attention was a quite big clock placed above the hearth. Below the numbers there was a series of symbols grouped in threes and aligned in two circles, one inside the other. The only other thing they noticed was that the clock itself wasn't working but the place was abandoned for years so it was given.

When they went to check the rest of the rooms each time Natsu was about to open a door Erza felt like her heart was about to stop. At some point the place darken so much that the dragon-slayer had to use his fire to light the way giving the knight a small comfort.

They explored the building for an hour without results making Titania even more anxious for her fellow mages.

At the end they ended finding the famous library, big library.

"Hey" Natsu started.

"What?"

"It occurred to me, if Ignatius uncle had this library all his life, why hadn't he found information of the key before?" he asked.

"…you may be right" she was surprised at the dragon-slayer's lucidity 'when did he get to analyze… anything like that?' she wondered 'was he always like that? And why does it make me feel so… weird' she tried to dispel her blush with no avail 'can anyone give a hint? At least a signal?' she pulled a random book and widened her eyes at the title.

"The dragon and the princess: an immortal love" her jaw hit the floor and went through it. Her face got stuck in a terrible blush and a horrified expression

"What did you say Erza?" Natsu suddenly spoke making her jump and quickly hid the book behind her.

"N-nothing just a-a book I found haha yes, that's it"

"Oh, and what it is about?" he tried to peek behind her back but she didn't allowed it.

"Is nothing really, just a-a…record… of the magic armors across the history" she said 'yeah that sounds convincing'

"Eeeeh ok, if you say so" he let it go "we can keep looking here a bit more but I don't think there's anything else here" he went to look for his side.

Erza sighed in relief and was about to put the book back in its place, but something told her that there she might actually found some answers. So she used her summoning magic in reverse and kept it. Later she would ask Ignatius if she can borrow it.

After they were done with the library they moved to the last place left.

The basement.

Natsu decided to leave that place for the last for Erza's sake. They took the stairs from the back yard with Natsu on the front and Erza close behind. After two minuets they reached the bottom. The fire wizard created ten balls of fire to dispel the darkness, but they saw nothing interesting. The place was literally empty, just forty square meters of nothing.

They were about to examine the place closely when Erza caught something.

The wail of a child.

But this time she didn't felt scared at all, she just felt the urge of helping that poor soul.

She ran to the source as fast as she could. Natsu asked her what's going on but she didn't listened. When she arrived at the corner of the basement she couldn't believe her eyes.

There was a nearly seven years old girl crying face to the wall… and was redhead.

'What?' she asked herself "Ehm, are you ok?" the little girl kept crying a little more and then spoke.

"I… hate him" she said, Erza was puzzled.

"Who? Tell me I'll help you however I…"

"I hate Jellal" Titania shocked.

"W-wha?"

"He abandoned us, he was always telling us that we deserved to be free and then he betrayed us, betrayed me" she started sobbing harder "I thought he loved me but it was a lie"

"No that isn't true, he wasn't in control then" she tried to sooth the girl, who suddenly stopped crying.

"That's what I mean" she spoke in barely contained fury "all that time I thought he was the strongest man I ever met, but it was just appearance" Erza didn't want to believe it "he just gave up, all of us trusted him but he just gave into the hatred… even when I tried to save him…" she started to lift her gaze, freezing Erza's blood.

"Because of him Rob oji-chan died, he killed Simon and make me believe I had feelings for him" she looked at her with an eye and an empty eye socket "I'll never forgive him, I'd just wish he stayed at the bottom of the sea"

Titania couldn't believe this, no, it was more like she didn't want to believe it. Because those thoughts… weren't a simple illusion.

She could remember that those exact thoughts appeared in her head for a second after the tower of paradise and Nirvana. For a full second. And now those images were creeping back into her head, not letting go.

"No, NO! I'm not like that! I can't give in like he did…" another figure appeared behind the girl a soon as she said that "no, stay away from me!" she summoned her Tenrin armor and pointed her swords at Jellal.

"You know, you were right in all except one thing" he chuckled and put his hand on small Erza's head, who cringed in fear "it's hardly giving up when I fully agreed with the deal" the girl's head exploded in a shower of blood and gore, splashing the older woman.

She could even feel some brain tissue on her skin. The knight felt like throwing up. The horror was so much that overflowed her face in tears.

But when she looked at the man the horror soon became hate.

"Now that I think of it, you and I are just the same" he grinned smugly "I killed a girl who was guilty of nothing" Titania slashed with murderous eyes, and he didn't even dodged.

"And now you kill me for something that supposedly wasn't my fault" Erza's eyes filled again with fear. She looked at Jellal's body and then at her sword. Her hand started trembling. She backed a few steps.

"Already giving up?" he spoke from death "do I need to remind you all I did?" suddenly, all returned to her at once.

Years of resentment

"Erza…"

Becoming the object of hate of her friends.

"Erza…"

Almost dying and making the entire guild cry for her.

"Erza…"

All she did to people she cared was hurting them, maybe it would be better if she just die…

"Erza!" a powerful magic pressure pulled her out of her daze.

She had a hard time in processing what happened. After listening to the wail of the small Erza all she remembered were just scraps of the outside world.

The knight shook her head trying to dissipate her sudden dizziness. The first thing she noticed was that she indeed was in her Tenrin armor. Then she saw her partner below her and was in his mode lightning flame and looked pretty beaten up.

When she fully regained her senses was when she saw something that would give her nightmares for a long time.

He had a deep wound on his shoulder that was caused by her sword, which she was still pressing against him.

"Please come back to me" he thought she still hadn't returned.

'No…' she stiffly dropped the sword 'this isn't happening' her face morphed into an utter terror expression.

"Are you alright… Erza" he yanked the sword out of his shoulder and threw it to the floor. As soon as it hit the floor she shot herself to the nearest wall cracking it.

Natsu looked at her worried and tried to reach for her but she just pressed herself more into the wall.

"Stay away!" she yelled, tears falling from her eyes "I don't want to hurt you!" he was shocked.

"Erza you weren't in the right state of mind, you won't hurt me anymore" she shook her head violently.

"You can't know that, you can't be sure that it won't happen again! Y-you can get hurt because of… of me" she started sobbing harder.

The dragon-slayer now had to fight his tears. Seeing the person he admired the most like that was really breaking him. He knew he had to help her somehow but he was very aware that he wasn't good with words. So he had only one option left.

His own way.

Currently she was hiding her face in her legs so she didn't noticed when he lunged towards her. He put one arm on each side of her pinning her to the wall. Before she could do anything he slid his arms around her and hugged her tightly.

At first she panicked and tried to break the hug but Natsu's hold was firm.

"Please let go… I don't want to…"

"Hug me" he ordered making her cringe at his tone. She wasn't aware that he could use that kind of voice; it was firm, gentle and commanding at the same time.

"Hug me back" he insisted more sternly. Erza was still unsure.

"Do it" this time his tone left no room for discussion. Erza, resigned, started to stiffly move her arms around him, without stopping sobbing.

She stopped centimeters away from his back, unable to move them any further.

But then Natsu took her arms and forced her to wrap him with them.

"Just how… (sob)" she pressed her arms a little "how can you (sob)…even look at me after (sob)… what I did?"

Natsu was having a hard time believing that such cracked voice could come from a person like Erza. It was the paradise tower all over again, but then he realized that even then she didn't look so…humbled.

'She feels like this because she hurt me unconsciously?' he couldn't avoid feeling guilty for that but also felt warm in his chest because it looked like he meant that much for her.

"Tell me, why did want to become a wizard?" he suddenly asked. Erza's memories flashed in her mind, no need to say that they weren't pleasant "tell me please" he said more gently. She sighed trying to calm herself down.

"Back at the… tower… I knew a man named Rob. He used to be from Fairy tail and he told me about his life as a wizard. I was simply astonished of the things people like that could do. Then I told him that when I grew up I wanted to be a wizard too and fly on a broom" they shared a smile but it quickly fell from Erza's face "and then he… he…" she started to sob again.

"Don't say anything more" now he felt more guilty for making her remind that accursed tower again "so you wanted to fly on a broom right?" he felt her nodding.

"I'll tell you what, from now on I promise you I'll do all in my power to learn how to fly, and then we'll fly together" he took her face and made her look at him. From the grin on his face she could tell that he meant that.

Erza felt tears welling up in her eyes again, but they were no longer of sadness.

Unconsciously, she re-equipped with her white shirt and blue skirt but without her heart cross armor, but she didn't complain.

Because now when she lunged and hugged him she could feel her body pressed against his.

"Thank you" she breathed between tears.

"I'm here for you" he said making her heart skip a beat "but you won't be able to fly if you are all depressed like that" he helped to stand "so how about we deal with this thing and then we share a strawberry cake?" he grinned and she wipe her tears away.

"Sounds like a plan" Erza said with a big smile.

"Great, so what do we do next? Cause I'm, really sure this place is empty as well" Natsu said and she started to think.

"Mhmm" she moved to the center of the basement. The knight noticed there some kind of emblem on the floor. She could swear she saw it somewhere before.

'Wait, those drawings placed in circle' she thought harder and then it hit her "they are the same drawings as the clock!"

"Maybe is some decoration?" he said.

"Maybe but… what are you doing?" she blushed when he started touching her hair.

"You have something stuck on your hair" he pulled out a small parchment. She immediately put her hand on the spot where he pulled it.

"When… and how did it get there?"

"I have no idea" Natsu opened it.

"What does it says?" they started reading it.

" _Twelve for the swords guarding the gate_

 _In minuets they'll fight their life at stake_

 _Six for the staves breaking the spell_

 _In hours they realize there's no escape"_

Aside from the words there were two rudimentary drawings of a sword and a staff.

Erza looked again at the emblem on the floor. Aside from the two circles of drawings there was a wind rose that replaced the numbers of the clock. She step on one of the circles and noticed that they were loose and could spin. Then it all clicked on her mind.

"I got it" she started moving the circles.

"What? What did you find out?"

"It's not a coincidence that the drawings on the clock matched with the ones here; the four cardinal points are aligned with the twelve, three, six and nine of the clock"

"The writing on the parchment "twelve for the swords and six for the staves"" he wondered.

"Each circle is made of groups of three drawings and some of them have swords and staves. The parchment also says "in minutes and hours". If we consider that the inner and smaller circle corresponds with the hour needle of the clock, and the bigger one with the minute, and if we move the circles so that the minute circle aligns a group of drawings that includes a sword with the north (the twelve) and if we move the hour's circle so that a staff aligns with the south (the six) then…" she did so and soon spiral stairs started digging in the floor around the emblem.

"That's COOL! I think I'll never be getting over of how smart you are" Natsu said making her blush.

"Thank you" they wasted no more time and went downstairs.

…

When our duo reached the end of the stairs Natsu had to light the room again, but when he thought he would prefer the darkness.

"When I first came here I thought I was prepared for anything, but I was wrong" he said.

"I agree" Erza choked. The reason they were in that state was the fact that they ended in huge cave with… corpses hanging from the ceiling.

They had saw many things, yet nothing as close as creepy as that. There were men, women, and even children. All of them were from different ages, colors and states of decomposition.

They were both simply terrified, Erza the most.

"Natsu…"

"I got their scent, let's go!" he ran forward followed closely by Erza.

A few minutes lately they found what they were looking for. But it was only a small victory.

Kagura was worryingly pale, bathed in sweat and had deep eye bags not to mention that she was having troubles to breathe. Milliana looked similar but far worst.

The fairies were so horrified by their state that they completely missed a crucial fact.

They were both naked.

The first one in realizing this was Natsu. He cut the chains holding Kagura and got her down there. Then he covered her decency with his coat.

In other circumstances, Erza would be painfully jealous but now she could only feel sickly worried for them, so she summoned a simple topcoat and did the same as Natsu with Milliana.

"Erza! Kagura is awake!" at this she rushed to her surrogate sister. The same couldn't be said about Milliana but luckily she was alive.

"Talk to me nee-chan" she was having a hard time opening her eyes.

"W-who?" she asked half sleep. Seeing her like this was breaking her heart.

"It's me, Erza, your nee-san"

"We came here to save you" Natsu said. Kagura finally opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the dragon-slayer concerned face.

"You are… Natsu Dragneel" she said panting. Then she noticed Erza over his shoulder "nee-san… is that… you?" she asked hopefully.

"It's me Kagura, please I need you to tell us what happened" she asked anxious. The other woman thought for a moment.

"When we… first arrived here we started… seeing things; the paints moving, ghost running to us… a boy crying. Before I realize I was trapped in an illusion… and then we ended here" she started trembling "and then that… thing… it's been keeping us alive… feeding on our… magic power… Milliana stop responding yesterday" now they passed from worried to completely scared.

"What are you talking about? Who did this?" he asked. She opened her mouth.

" **GRAAAAAAAAAA!"**

Their heads turned to the side of the cave. The terrified expression of the mermaid didn't go unnoticed by the fairies.

Before anyone could say anything, something rushed from the shadows at blinding speed and grabbed Natsu and Erza by the face, carrying them towards the stairs. Yet, they refused to drop Kagura and Milliana, so they were dragged to.

When they were finally dropped, they landed on the back yard. Erza immediately re-equipped with her black wings armor. And then they took a better look at the creature.

The closest thing they could compare it with was the cross between the ugliest bird with the ugliest man ever, but it only had one wing, and an insane magic pressure.

"Natsu" Erza started dangerously calm "I want you to take Kagura and Milliana to the mansion as fast as possible, I will buy you as much time as I can but you have to go now"

"What are you talking about?!" he yelled

"No! Nee-san that thing… is too strong"

"Like hell I will let you fight that thing on your own! We…"

"Please" she said actually pleading and shutting him up "I need you Natsu" she sent him a small smile.

He didn't knew how to take those words. He had never seen Erza pleading like that; the normal thing would be her shouting him but not this. That could only mean one thing.

She was deadly serious.

He gritted his teeth "you'll come back" he ordered before doing what she asked him.

'Be sure of it' she turned her gaze to her opponent. She moved as fast as she could and delivered a diagonal slash to its chest.

It was like hitting a pool.

The body of the creature splashed on thousands of particles at the contact with the sword, and as soon as they left its body the returned like if it had never been hit.

'What the hell?' she was about to try another slash when the creature sent her flying with a strong slap.

The pressure was so strong that she couldn't even fight it. She went through a few trees, destroying them and ended on a rock formation leaving a huge crater there.

"Ugh" she fell to the floor and right after that she felt the creature approaching.

'Damn, it looks that I'll have to use it' she thought "re-equip!" she started shining and when the creature arrived she stopped shining.

"Nakagami no yoroi!" the creature roared and then charged at her.

"Nakagami no seisai!" she made a cut in the air releasing a star shower over it.

The creature extended its wing. What happened after that left Erza astonished.

"Impossible"

…

Natsu rushed to the Marini mansion by foot since there was no way of carrying the two women on the horses.

With each step he regretted more and more leaving Erza to her fate but he knew that he had to do the task that she entrusted him.

Still, he wished that he could be at her side.

Suddenly, the dragon-slayer's instinct told him to jump back and with good reasons cause now something landed on the place where he was standing.

When the dust cloud dissipated he could see the creature standing before him. But he was more focused on the person it was carrying.

Titania looked like the two mermaids; pale and covered in cold sweat but there was something else that caused his blood to boil.

She had a stab wound on her stomach that pierced till her back.

Natsu placed gently the two women on the floor in time for the creature to throw the knight in front of him. He caught her and his eyes went straight to the wound.

She had re-equipped with the acolyte armor and was trying to heal her but was very slow.

'At this rate she'll…" his mind didn't dared to finish that thought.

He heard her mumbling something. He moved closer to hear her.

"R-run" she said "please save… yourself" Natsu had to fight his tears. To make Erza cry again and not being at her side again… unforgivable.

He placed her between Kagura and Milliana "no" he managed to hear before he started walking to the ceature.

"Metsuryu ougi Shiranui gata" he whispered in barely contained fury. Scales appeared below his eyes "Guren Houou ken!" he surrounded himself with fire and then charged at the creature head-butting him in the middle of the chest.

But the result wasn't what he expected; because the creature literally exploded. Strange because it wasn't that kind of magic and the target wasn't that weak.

'It doesn't matter' he fell to his knees exhausted 'what matters is that I managed to protect Erza, and this is finally over…' he was about to go back to them but then noticed something.

Magic particles were joining in front of him in a formation.

His eyes widened in horror. That wasn't a formation, it was the body of the creature rebuilding.

'Fuck, maybe if I destroy it now…' he tried to gather his magic but he was all spent; he put till the last ounce of magic power on that last attack.

'Why? I just wanted to protect them, protect her" the tears finally started falling from his eyes 'I just want to be with her, just one more day' he could only wait for the creature to deliver the final strike cause it should have be regenerated already.

.

.

.

'What?' he lifted his head and noticed that the particles stopped when they were about to end building the head.

Then he started to hear whispers. He didn't know who made them but he could use an ally now. So he focused more.

" _Wh…t …uo ..ire?"_ he tried harder. _"what do you desire?"_ he didn't understand the reason of question but the answer surged immediately.

"I want to save them, I want to save Erza" he meant that, but he could feel that the voice owner wasn't convinced.

" _What's your biggest desire?"_ he reformulated. Natsu still couldn't understand what he wanted. He couldn't think with the mind another answer, so he had to use his heart.

He closed the eyes and focused. He asked himself what did his heart thought about that question.

What was his biggest desire?

For moments he focused. Then he opened his eyes in determined face

 **(a/n now start playing Fairy tail main them slow version a/n)**

"I don't want die for my friends" he started quietly "I WILL life for them! For my friend, for the guild, for Erza! I want nothing more than get to fly with her!" he took a deep breath "MY BIGGEST DESIRE IS LIVE AT HER SIDE TILL DEATH AND MORE!" he screamed with all the passion his soul could give.

He could swear that he felt the voice smiling.

" _If you want to fly you are gonna need wings"_

"What?"

" _The desire becomes dream and the dream becomes reality"_ once again he couldn't understand what he meant but he knew one thing.

'My back BURNS!"

…

Erza could see the creature had finished building itself and was about to crush Natsu.

She tried to move but her wound and her lack of magic power made it an impossible task, still she tried to force her body to do… anything.

'I have to save him, please let me someone ACK!' she fell to the ground and started sobbing and trembling 'no, it can't end like this… I still haven't… Natsu no… I-I still haven't told him… told him what?' she blushed and tried think what she had to tell him.

But was it really the time to think? The creature was already lifting his leg to crush him, and with each centimeter she felt her heart will shot out of her chest.

Suddenly all was clear inside her. It wasn't time to use the head, whatever she needed to tell him she had to tell him now or she will regret it the rest of her life.

So her heart took complete control of her.

"NATSU!" she screamed the words without control "I LOVE…"

"GRRRAAAAAAAAA!" a geyser of fire shot of Natsu's back, severing the leg of the creature an making it roar of pain.

 **(and now Dragon force theme!)**

Erza watched the show with mouth agape. And then analyzed what she was about to say. Needless to say that blood rushed to her face and started oozing out of her pores.

But then paid attention to overflowing magic pressure of her friend. It increased fast and didn't seem to be stopping soon.

Then the flames in his back started taking shape.

When they were over, they were identical to a dual wing, like the one of a dragon fly…

…or a fairy.

The fire it emanated took the shape of a dragon

She turned his gaze to the creature and its fear was almost palpable. But it was soon replaced by anger. With a roar it raised its power to the very limits, so much that it overpowered Natsu's by a few degrees.

But then he did the same. The flames grew three times bigger and morphed from a dragon to a bird, and his roar sounded now like the chant of an eagle.

She was astound to say the least and as for the creature, the fear became dread.

Natsu slowly stood.

"Metsu-garuda ougi" the words appeared in his head like if he knew them of a lifetime, his eyes glowing with power.

"Houou no seikatsu! (phoenix life)" he charged with his fire bird to the creature swallowing it with fire.

Before it turned into ashes he listened something that gave even more doubts to that day.

" **Funicho-sama?"** and a single tear on its eye. The surprise would have stopped him if he was in control of himself.

Erza watched him close. To say that it was a spectacle would be the understatement of the century.

She would like nothing more than staying awake to se the end but her weariness made it difficult.

The last thing she remembered before falling asleep was a pair of strong arms surrounding her, and something very soft pressed against her forhead.


	4. Chapter 3 Let those wounds heal

**Ok I finally found what was wrong with my poll; it seems that the idiot of me didn't display it… god what a humiliation :_(.**

 **Anyway, I pray that had solved all the problems with the poll so PLEASE go to my profile and cast a vote, see, you have reduced me to beg.**

 **No really, my head is swinging between Juvia and Ultear and if I can't decide soon I'll just cut Gray having a romantic interest in the story AND I DON'T WANT THAT!**

 **Having said that this chapter may be not very exiting but I have remained hiatus for too long and I know first hand how much that hurts for a reader.**

 **So enough talking and more reviewing! I mean reading… you get it**

Chapter 3

Let those wounds heal

The air in the Marini's mansion was tense if not deadly. Most of the staff was handling the situation like nothing, but certain maid had already cleaned till the last centimetre of the mansion… again.

The house lord was currently waiting in the common handling it considerably better, but he was having a severe case of RLS and was holding his celestial key very tightly. And what was worse, he felt guilty for putting so many people in risk including his two personal heroes.

"Calm down, there had only been a few hours" he said

"Exactly master, there's no need to worry" Tamara answered.

"I actually meant you" he deadpanned "and leave that vase, you are already fading the pattern" the maid looked at her work, then pouted and hid said vase behind her.

"Try to chill, have you forgotten your idol's strength?" he tried to sooth her.

"I'll never do that! But he is a passionate, heroic heart man. He could get hurt in trying to save her" she growled at the end "she better protect him or else…"

"I just can't believe it" he looked astonished.

"What?"

"You just admitted Erza is stronger than Natsu" Tamara snorted.

"The only thing she is better than him is in…" she thought for seconds "no, I can't phantom anything" she sighed "I'm so worried for him"

Ignatius looked at her blankly.

"And for Mermaid heel's ladies" he just looked at her more blankly "…and for our workers too of course" he raised an eyebrow and she started counting with her fingers thinking who she forgot.

"Ah, and Scarlet-san too" she mumbled.

The noble man sighed.

"Well but don't worry too much. If half of things I heard about him are true, chances are that he'll open the door with a kick at any…"

SLAM!

Their heads lifted at the commotion that came from the main entrance. They dashed to the source with a speed that no normal human should possess and found the guards pointing some magic pole arms at Natsu.

"What do you think you are doing?!" Tamara yelled and Ignatius ordered them to lower their weapons. A part of him was immensely relieved to see him alive, but then saw the women he was carrying and then his worry renewed.

He managed to carry Erza bridal style and Kagura and Milliana on each of his shoulders but still looked that they were about to fall.

"Natsu-san what hap…?"

"Please tell me you have a doctor" Natsu cut him with urge. Ignatius then checked them again. Natsu had a stab wound on his right shoulder but didn't looked too serious. Then he looked at the women on his shoulders but they only looked exhausted as hell. And then looked at Erza who was pale too but she also had a stab wound on her stomach and was bleeding badly.

"I want three rooms clear and the surgery team ready and I want them for yesterday!" he ordered and in a second a man appeared and took Kagura from Natsu's shoulder while Ignatius himself took Milliana. A third man offered to take Erza but Natsu refused.

"Tamara guide Natsu to medic room and see what you can do"

"Hai" she replied completely serious and then did what she was told.

'Just hold on a bit more Erza' Natsu started praying.

* * *

The medic room looked like the rest of the mansion, except that it was equipped to attend up to 20 people in critical state. But tonight it will attend only one.

When they arrived Tamara headed to the closest bed and motioned Natsu to place her there. He did it with all the care that he was able.

After than she moved to one side of the bed and looked at Erza' armor.

"What is that?" she asked.

"It is the acolyte armor if I remember right. It gives her more endurance and heals her wounds but I don't know why it isn't working now"

"I heard about that one; it can only heal wounds up to certain point; the more serious the wound, the more magical power it consumes, until the wielder has no more…" suddenly, Erza started glowing and when the light disappeared, she had only her white shirt and blue skirt.

"What happened?" he asked sickly worried.

"It looks like she ran out of magic power" she looked at her and her eyes started glowing light blue for moments.

Natsu widened his eyes at this; he would never have guessed she was a mage.

"Not good, she has an internal bleeding" she said closing her eyes.

"What does it mean? Can we help her?" Natsu was getting more worried with each word.

"We'll have to operate her" she shocked him "the regular process includes locating the wound but I have already done it so it's more likely that she survives"

"…more likely?" he made a dreadful expression.

"Don't worry Natsu-sama, I'll personally see that she leaves as healthy as when she arrived" she assured him, and in that moment the surgery team arrived "now I'll have to ask you to wait outside please"

"I… understand" he begrudgingly accepted leaving Erza in her hands.

He left the room still wanting to do more to help but he knew there was nothing more he could do at this point.

When the doors closed behind him his mind went blank. He literally had no idea of what he should do next. His worry dulled all the functions of his brain.

"Natsu-san would you join me for a moment?" Ignatius snapped him out of his daze. Since he couldn't do anything productive he took his offer. So without saying a word he followed him to the common room. There, a teapot and two cups awaited them.

The noble man served some tea to the dragon-slayer "here, this will help to calm down" he accepted it and drank it quickly since the temperature of a drink wasn't a problem for him, plus he was sickly nervous.

"Thanks, Ignatius-san" he said still with his head hung.

"Listen, I won't ask you to tell me what happened there if you don't want to; I understand if it is private but I do want to know one thing" Natsu looked at him.

"What?" the noble rubbed his chin thinking in the best way to ask him.

"First I would like to know what Tamara told you about Erza-san's condition"

"She told me she had an internal bleeding and that she had to operate her but already located the wound so it would be easier and that she would surely be fine"

"That was a lie" Natsu's eyes widened.

"What?"

"Even if she had already found the wound Erza-san had lost pretty much blood. That puts the chances against her again" the dragon-slayer gritted his teeth.

"That can't be truth"

"I'm sorry but I know myself how it is to have false hopes and I don't want you to have them" Natsu hide his face in his hands; all his efforts and despite the promise he made he failed…

"So I'll give you truth hopes" he looked at him with hope "modesty aside, Tamara is the best healer in Fiore and if not, she had healed easily worse wounds, so be sure that Erza-san won't be any different" he gave him a reassuring smile, making him sigh in relief.

"Thank you" was all he could say. He felt his eyes watering "thank you so much".

"No problem. Now…" he trailed off.

"Yes, what do you want to know?"

"Well, as I said before it was obvious that Erza-san lost too much blood and even if she had taken the wound immediately before you brought her it was still too big for her to stay alive all the way to here" Natsu gasped "my question is… just how did you managed to save her life?" he closed his eyes thinking about the answer.

"To tell the truth I'm not actually sure" he confessed " I just remember that she was loosing consciousness…"

* * *

 _Flashback_

After he was sure that the creature wouldn't stand again, Natsu wasted no more time and ran to his friend. He tried to wake her up but it was futile.

"Erza! Come on wake up! You can't…" he couldn't even say the word

'Please… don't leave me' he pressed his lips against her forehead 'there has to be something I can do. Think, think for once!' and then something happened.

His wing twitched.

It was not until that moment that he realized he had something on his back. And his mind immediately rationalized that it was a wing. But that wasn't all.

Despite the fear he was feeling the thoughts in his head flowed like a clean river. Even being a knucklehead of life his mind was clearer like never before. He didn't understand how, but he had worse problems than that, so he had to put his new reason to work.

Natsu took another look at Erza and remembered he was wearing the acolyte armor and then joined the pieces.

'Ok, if it has the ability of canalize her magic power to heal her wounds it must have a rune pattern and a lacrima' he put his hand on her corset and searched. After a few tries he found an indent and with carefulness that surprised even him, he pulled a small steel plate off.

Under it, there was a kind of small pearl surrounded by a circle of runes.

'There it is' he thought 'now if I push my magic power to the lacrima I should be able to enhance the healing factor… I can't push too much though, or the lacrima could break' so he moved his hands over the lacrima and started pushing his power on it, as slowly as he could.

The wound looked like wanting to close itself but it was still not enough. He pushed more, then a little more, and then more. He lost count of how much time he'd been doing that but he didn't care; he would do it as long as necessary. And after what seemed like an eternity, the wound stopped bleeding.

Natsu sighed in relief. At least he managed to protect Erza one more time.

Next thing on the list was waking her up… but she still wasn't responding.

Worried to hell, Natsu's mind could only think in returning to the mansion and pray for the noble man be able to help her.

First he lifted the mermaids one on each of his shoulders, then; carefully not to drop them; he lifted Erza bridal style. Seeing her in this state was tearing his burning heart apart, but he never let pain stop him before and definitely he wouldn't start now.

He just ran to the mansion. He ran faster than ever and still managed to keep the women from slipping. He ran like escaping from the death itself, but this one wasn't trying to catch him, but a woman that had no idea of how much she meant for him.

He didn't even realised the inhumanly speed he managed to pull, and that with each step he was running slower and slower, just like the wing disappeared gradually.

* * *

 _End of flashback_

"And that's all" he finished mirroring the troubled expression of the noble. He pondered at his words for a few seconds.

"So you are saying you just pushed your magic power on a lacrima just like that?"

"Yes, why?"

"Is just, unless im wrong, the lacrima of an armor works with a very delicate balance of runes, so it should be more difficult to enhance it with external magic power" Natsu only got half of that.

"Well… as I told you something happened to me then, it was a magic I have never felt but" he thought for a moment "if I may ask, why is so important how I saved Erza? Did you thought I did something wrong?" Ignatius opened his mouth to talk but he was interrupted by the arrival of Tamara. She was wearing the typical surgery attire and looked tense.

"That was fast, how is she?" Natsu asked with his heart on his throat. She pulled of her mask and took a deep breath.

"As master had probably told you she lost a lot of blood..." he actually started trembling "…but somehow a good part of the job was already done and we are better equipped than we seem. She'll be fine" he let out the breath he was holding.

"Thank you" she blushed; it wasn't very common that the doctor received the credit and not some deity "can I see her now?"

"She is still in repose, even with our advanced methods she…" Natsu's pleading gaze deepened her blush "w-well I guess if you don't wake her up. I'll lead you to her room" she said with a sly smile and playing with a lock of her air.

Although she said she was going to lead him, his nose was all the guide he needed.

When he arrived relief invaded him again. Erza was sleeping peacefully and covered till the neck with the bed's sheets. She was still a little pale but her face told him that she was sleeping peacefully.

Seeing the relief on Natsu's face made Tamara smile, but it was soon replaced by shock when she noticed the wound on his shoulder.

"Natsu-sama you are wounded!"

"Oh this? It's nothing, it doesn't even hurt"

"It could get infected! You should get it washed right away" she was about to lead him out.

"No" he deadpanned.

"What?"

"Erza got hurt because I wasn't there to help her, so I won't abandon her never again" his gaze didn't left Titania for a moment so he missed the despite face that the maid gave her.

"But..." she couldn't finish because Natsu suddenly wrapped his arms around her in a soft hug.

"If it wasn't for you she could have died. Thank you" Tamara couldn't respond; she was to busy failing to fight the blood rushing to her face "you've done your part, now I'll do mine staying by her side"

The maid didn't know what to say; she had just witnessed first hand the passionate heart of her personal hero. And what was more he even hugged her! She could only think 'best… day… ever'.

She played with her hair again all flushed "w-well… at least l-let me… suture it" she mumbled "you won't have to leave"

"Very well" he sat in a couch near the bed. The maid always carried a first aid kid with her so the only problem was keeping her hands from trembling for touching Natsu's body. But still, in matter of minutes the wound was closed.

"It's done. Do you… want me to leave you alone?" she asked hesitantly

"I would appreciate that, thanks" the maid bowed and then left leaving Natsu alone with Erza.

He managed to save her, but even so, the image of her pale body dieing in his arms wouldn't go away. He gritted his teeth.

'It's not fair that someone so… amazing keeps suffering like that' he sat next to her 'but I can't actually protect her from all harm. Then…' he took her hand 'whatever happens, I swear I'll stay by her side, I swear on my soul' he thought, and he did so; he stayed with her till she woke up, although the sleep caught him before.

* * *

For an unspecified amount of time, Erza actually felt that she didn't make it and died at the end. And if she died it would mean that the vision of her funeral became real, and she remembered very well who suffered the most.

'This is my fault' if it wasn't for her she and Natsu wouldn't have ended on that damn job! But if they hadn't took it Kagura and Milliana would have die. Also the main purpose of it was thanking Natsu for all he had done.

'Some thanks gift it turned to be' but no. She knew perfectly the true reason behind it. The reason she needed to be alone with him. And now because of her indecision of her feelings he and the rest of the guild will suffer.

Fury and sadness suddenly invaded her. It grew till she felt a piercing pain in her lower side.

'Wait what?' she thought. If she was feeling pain then she was still alive.

She started focusing on waking up. The first thing she felt was something soft under her, like a bed; second, the breathing of someone against her face.

With all her strength, she forced her eyes to open, and what she saw would make her heart skip a beat.

Natsu's peaceful sleeping face was centimetres away from hers.

If she had any strength to move she would have jump at the unexpected closeness but she hadn't any. So all she could do was blush madly.

'W-why is he…? What happened?' she looked around and noticed that she was probably in a room of the mansion, and then noticed something else that made the source of her face colour turn from embarrassment to anger.

The maid Tamara was also in the room. She was currently fighting the urge of placing her hands on Natsu' abs… and she was losing. But before she could commit a crime against decency something in the air made her stop.

A powerful killing intent.

She turned her gaze to Erza and gasped when she saw the dark aura that surrounded her and her shining white eyes above the shadow tha covered her face.

Titania opened her mouth letting out a green miasma, and as if on cue the maid ran of the room… more for embarrassment of being caught than fear for her life but still.

Erza groaned; was it that difficult resisting the dragon-slayer belly muscles? She turned her gaze to them. That iron well toned six pack abs not to muscular but perfectly defined that shined with sweat.

Her hand moved towards them.

She only realized when her hand was half way towards them but when she ordered her hand to stop this one didn't listen.

She started to panic; if she did that she would be no better than the lassie maid, but the urge of the woman inside her was too strong to resist.

'W-w-well t-technically I'm his friend and that should give me more right than her right?' she tried to rationalize it 'also if he doesn't know there should be no pro…'

"Erza…" that was it; one word and her heart got a heart attack, but in her last moments of consciousness she noticed that he wasn't fully awake yet. The relief was so intense that her heart began beating again.

"Erza?" he called her again fighting sleep.

"I'm here Natsu" he opened his eyes.

"Are you ok?" it was obvious that he could fall asleep again at any moment.

"I'm fine, you saved me… us once more" he smiled warmly and moved his hand to her cheek, gesture that made her eyes wide.

"Thank god… if anything happened to you… I don't know what I would do… you're special" what he said, the tone he used, his look, his smile, all those factors combined made her heart light on fire. Unconsciously, she put her hand over his.

"You are special for me too" she didn't know why she said that, but she didn't regretted it at all. After that he fell asleep again, this time with a smile on his face, a smile that passed to Erza.

"Um, excuse me, Erza-san?" a voice sounded behind the door. She suddenly moved to the opposite side of the bed.

"You may enter" the door opened and Ignatius appeared.

"I'm sorry for bothering, but someone wanted to see you as soon as you got awake" he moved aside and Kagura appeared.

"Erza, I'm glad you are ok"

"I say the same" she tried to sit but in the end Kagura had to help her "thanks, and nice dress by the way" she said with a smirk making her blush.

The dress was a variation of the gothic Lolita; it had a black skirt with fuchsia embroidery that ended on her knees and had several folds. The upper part looked like a black kimono with mildly wide sleeves and with fuchsia borders similar to the skirt.

And the reason Kagura blushed at Erza's comment was because I could only zip till half of her bust, so her cleavage was perfectly visible. Not to mention, it was very tight in that area, calling more attention to her assets.

"Please don't tease me, Ignatius-san only lend it to me for the time being, I only wear it now because it would be rude to decline" her blush deepened "he didn't knew it would be so... revealing" Erza chuckled.

"Oh please, it suits you really well. Besides wearing something like that would be a tactical advantage while fighting a man" she said completely honestly "if it doesn't restrain your movements, which it doesn't, you'll just have to get stronger than your prudery, not to mention, is super cute"

"Get stronger huh?" she smiled despite her blush "I think I can do that" they shared a chuckle.

"Hey, nee-san"

"Yes?"

"Don't take this the wrong way but… how did you manage to defeat that thing?" Erza sighed.

"To tell the truth I don't know, actually it was Natsu who did it not me" Kagura let out a small smile.

"Please, I don't want to underestimate Natsu-san but he wasn't match for that creature"

"That's true, he wasn't" the mermaid didn't understood "but I wasn't either" the memory made her feel a stinging pain on her side. She moved the sheets aside and lifted the gown that the surgeons gave her.

Under it there was an awful scar just sutured; it was well closed but it still looked pretty bad.

"What a mess" Erza commented while Kagura covered her mouth "first I want you tell me what happened to you" she hesitated but still spoke.

"We didn't have any chance. No matter what we threw at it always regenerated, not even my gravity magic worked. Then suddenly everything went black. When I woke up we were tied in that cave. We tried to break free but it sealed our magic with some kind of runes. And well, you know the rest, he absorbed our magic power for days, it even fed us barely enough for keeping us alive. Oh, and whatever it did to absorb our magic… it disintegrated our clothes in time" she mumbled the last part.

"I see… then you'll understand if I tell you I had no chance against him"

"But you had the Nakagami armor! That should have worked… right?" she hung her head in shame.

"There's no reason to hide it" she said in low voice "when I was fighting that thing…"

* * *

 _Flashback_

Erza was currently trying to fight the pressure of the hit that the monster gave her, in vain.

She stopped when he hit a rock formation, leaving a huge crater there.

"Ugh!" she felt blood taste on her mouth and recomposed herself as fast as she could.

Her options were running out, and didn't want to take unnecessary risks.

'Damn, it looks like I have to use it' she thought "reequip!" she started shinning and when the creature arrived she stopped shining.

"Nakagami no yoroi!" the creature didn't seemed intimidated at all, it just charged with a roar.

"Nakagami no seisai!" Erza slashed at the air unleashing a star shower to her opponent.

The monster extended his wing, and then…

The stars just started orbiting around him.

"Impossible" dread started invading her, and it was only the beginning, for the stars began attaching to his right claw, and soon morphed into a golden stake.

The creature gave her a murderous stare.

Erza knew what was coming, like an unstoppable force of nature.

"Reequip…" she shinned for moments. Fearfully, she took a step back while IT pointed the stick towards her, and then disappeared from her sight.

"Akoraito no yoroi...ack!" she spited blood. Trembling, she moved her sight to the stake and judging for the size, it pierced her till her back.

'It's not over yet, I can still…' she started feeling sleepy.

Erza didn't get what was happening to her until she saw glowing particles floating from her wound and merging with the creature.

'No… all he did for me… I can't leave him' she tried to force her body to move but to no avail. She felt the monster lifting her and jumping away.

She didn't need to lift her head to know she landed in front of Natsu.

* * *

 _End flashback._

When Erza finished her story Kagura was watching at her with shock.

"…And then?" she asked.

"As impressive that hears it's nothing compared to what came next" she told her what she managed to see before losing consciousness, how Natsu pulled out a magic that she never seen before and beat that thing like nothing, adding even more shock to her sister.

"That must have been a true spectacle" was all she managed to say "I have no idea he was so… amazing" she looked at Natsu with a quite cute smile. Which made Erza chuckle.

"If I didn't know you better I'll you have a crush on him" as you can guess, the mermaid blushed madly and started spluttering, thing that made Erza chuckle harder.

"Ha-ha-ha, you truly are a lost cause you know?" Kagura pouted slightly and mutter something inaudible "you have nothing to be embarrassed for, actually, if you tell me now you don't feel attracted to him I'm taking you to check for any brain damage" she told her as serious as ever "and I think you'll made a nice couple" saying that was harder than she thought.

"Are you sure you aren't just teasing me?" Erza nodded "well… maybe I consider it" she said playing with her fingers.

"Well good luck, after the grand magic games you'll have much competition"

"And that includes you?" she asked carefully but still making the Titania blush.

"Ekhm, I won't deny he is physically attractive but that's because I'm a girl before anything else. I mean he has a strong complexion, those exotic sharp eyes, that funny pink hair" she started getting lost in her description "he has a smile that makes you believe everything will be alright and that's just the exterior; he must have the biggest and most passionate heart that the world has seen, capable of finding strength on the feelings of his friends" her gaze trailed to said man.

"True he tends to forget things and to destroy things but he still managed to push through all life has thrown at him and still took the effort of helping all of us. That's probably the thing I admire most of him, and the thing I love the…"

"Nee-san?" Erza suddenly realized she was talking aloud.

"Umm yes, what is it?" she noticed that Kagura was a bit disillusioned.

""it's ok; if you like him then I won't pursue him"

"No! It's not like that is just…" they suddenly heard someone running to their room. Then the door swung open.

"ER-CHAN! ARE YOU OK!?" Milliana yelled with tears in her eyes making Erza sigh.

"For now but if you keep yelling like that it won't last long" the cat girl suddenly covered her mouth.

"S-sorry" she added quietly.

"Zip it and come here" she sat next to Erza.

"So I hope you are recovering well. What where you talking about? Maybe boys? (Giggles)" both Kagura and Erza blushed although the latter more.

"W-wha…? No, of course not" the knight sputtered.

"Nya Er-chan, don't think I haven't noticed the looks you gave Natsu-san here when he was unconscious back at Akane" her mouth hung open.

"Nee-san is that true?" Kagura asked.

"Does it even matter? He isn't interested in me at all" she added with a bit of hurt.

"Nya-a-ah, you are underestimating yourself Er-chan"

"Milliana…"

"It's true Erza" her attention shot to the senior mermaid "he only had a few scratches when he arrived. Ignatius-san told me he fell asleep for waiting for you to wake up at your side" Titania's eyes widened

"…How much time he waited?" she asked.

"Four days" her eyes widened even more while her cheeks turned slightly pink.

"Aww, that's so romantic!" Erza was about to retaliate but…

"Uuuugh, Lucy! You are squealing again!" Natsu's voice sent shivers down the knight's spine.

"Hey Natsu, awoke already?" she hid quite well the emotions on her voice.

"Eh? Erza?" he rubbed his before shooting up from the bed "Erza! What happened? Did you sneak in Lucy's room as well?" both mermaids sent Erza a questioning gaze but she just shook her head.

"No Natsu, don't you remember? You took us back to the mansion after dealing with that thing" he took a better look at the room he was currently in.

"Ah yes, I remember now" he looked at her again "so how do you feel? Are you better now?" she smiled warmly.

"Yes I'm better now, you don't need to worry for me"

"Sorry, but I could never stop worrying for my friends, especially for you" they both blushed when they realised what he said.

"N-no that you are special or… I mean you are special obviously but it's not like I think you are weak… which you aren't! But even if you are I still feel the need of…"

"I understand" she suddenly interjected him.

"You do? How?" he asked

"Because… I feel the same thing" they both fell in a not so awkward silence, forgetting for a moment that they weren't the only ones in the room.

"Um… Natsu-san" Kagura ripped them of their thoughts.

"Yes?"

"I know we don't know each other well but… I have to say I'm really grateful for saving m-us… and…" she remembered the moment when the first light of hope she saw after so much time was his face.

"(Giggles) I think Kagura-chan wants to take you out to dinner" the cat girl said

"Milliana!" Kagura yelled red as a tomato while her apprentice and her sister laughed at her.

"Ehh what are you laughing at? What's so funny in a dinner?" Natsu said earning disbelieving stares from the three ladies, before all three of them laughed at him, making him feel irritated.

Outside of the room, a maid listened from behind the door at women laughing with her crush.

That sound made her heart ache in pain. Several wounds she thought have healed long ago were now reopening.

'Why? Why it can't be me for once?' she hugged herself and pressed her legs close together, imagining that it was someone else's body embracing her.

A tear escaped from her eye.

'No' she wiped it away 'I won't just leave it like this… out of all mages from all guilds he came to us… to me' she pulled herself together and then headed to do the only thing that went through her mind at the time.

'I won't hurt her of course; he wouldn't talk to me again' she closed he eyes 'but I can prove I'm better than her' she opened her eyes which started shinning in blue light.

'It's my turn now... Jasmine'


	5. Chapter 4 Meeting interesting people?

Chapter 4

Meeting… interesting people?

After a good ten minutes of making fun of the dragon-slayer the group of three women and one man decided that they could leave now. Or rather Erza declared it despite her friends tried to convince her that she should rest, but took only a bit of her "charm" to win the discussion.

They were about to tell Ignatius but he stopped them by telling them that they forgot something important. So they were now waiting for the noble man in the common room wondering what they forgot, Natsu even was going through all the stuff in his backpack

"Clothes, check; food, check; tend, check; toothbrush, TOOTHBRUSH?! Oh no, check"

"Nya, what could we possibly have forgotten? We have been here for not even a week" Milliana wondered "and Ignatius-san looked pretty exited about it"

"I don't know but I have the feeling myself that we are indeed forgetting something" Erza said scratching her chin.

"Look he's back" the noble man returned to the room with Tamara and two bulky-built men that were carrying a chest and a suitcase.

"What's in there Ignatius-san?" the man grinned as he sat on the couch.

"Would you do the honors Tamara?" he grinned to the maid who grinned back.

"First the Mermaid heel ladies" Milliana and Kagura looked at each other in confusion "for the pain both physical and mental for the humiliation that you went through for the sake of the mission and by consequence for Ignatius-sama even if you couldn't finish the job" she moved to the suitcase and opened it.

"Master has decided to gift you the sum of no less than two million jewel" she opened the suitcase and presented the money.

All four mages jaws hit the floor with a loud thud but the mermaids louder than the fairies.

They fell in deep silence for moments until Kagura broke it.

"Ignatius-san w-why would you…?"

"Tamara has already told you the reasons"

"But still it's too much for us to accept-MPH!" suddenly Milliana's hand was over her mentors mouth.

"I think what Kagura-chan is trying to say is that it would be extremely rude to not accept a heart gift from a soul so generous like yours right Kagura-chan?" she used her other hand to make the other girl nod her head.

"Woah, woah, woah! But Erza and I did complete the job what about us!?" Natsu yelled.

"I'm glad you ask Natsu-san" he motioned Tamara to continue.

"To the Fairy tail wizards as the request said the reward would be discussed at the end of the mission but since you did not only fulfilled the job but also managed to protect the library and even discover a secret passage that we didn't knew it was there, not to mention save the life of the Mermaid heel ladies" she moved to the chest and unlocked it.

"The master decided you won't leave with less than thirty million jewel" the chest was overflowing with money.

For a few seconds the fairies just froze in their places, unable to move. Then Natsu fainted and Erza started sputtering.

"I… this… I mean it's… pretty obvious that you are a rich and noble man but don't you think that's a bit exaggerated?" at this he started chuckling.

"Please Erza-san, I have so much money that a good part of it will turn into dust before I can use it" with this, Natsu woke up laughing.

"Well we can't argue with that can we?" he started playing with the money, then something clicked on Erza's head.

"Well, if you insist but there's something that came to our mind when we were in the chateau" Natsu stopped playing abruptly and adopted a serious expression; he knew exactly what she meant.

"What is it?" the noble man said serious as well.

"If you really had the library your whole life, why haven't you find information of the key yet?" he leaned back on his chair, thinking in the answer.

"To tell the truth, I've been asking myself the same question" all of them widened their eyes "I've passed a good part of my life on that library and read every book there but I haven't found anything yet"

"Maybe there's just anything there"

"No, you didn't know my uncle, if there is something that he wasn't it was dishonest. If he said the answers were there then they are there"

Everyone fell in silence at his words; on the one hand they knew that it was most likely that there wasn't anything there by they also understood what it meant to have blind faith in someone they loved.

Then, out of nowhere, Natsu's face, which had been in deep thought until now, suddenly lit in realization.

"I'VE GOT IT!" everyone looked at him in surprise.

"What is it Natsu?" Erza said. Then he pointed at Milliana, surprising her.

"You are that crazy cat fangirl that kidnapped Happy and treat him as a pet back in the paradise tower and when I tried to rescue him you stuck my head in giant cat-like head but then thanks to that I could free myself from your hold because you thought I was and actual cat and if not then you are that Erza's friend that participated on the grand magic games!" he yelled in joy because he could remember her, so much that he didn't notice the rest of the people in the room went pale white.

But after a few seconds of that Erza started giggling, followed by Tamara and soon all of them where laughing except for a pouting Milliana.

"Ha-ha. Well now that that's clear I guess we should leave now" all the mages stood.

"Of course, just one more thing" Ignatius said.

"What is it?"

"Tamara" his gaze turned to the maid.

"Yes master?" she flinched a bit at his cold tone.

"Give it back"

"W-w-what? I d-don't know what you're T-talking…"

"On the contrary" he interrupted her "I think you are well aware of what I meant and will fulfill my order with no backtalk"

"But why?" she whined making a vein twitch in his forehead.

"Because I'm this close of donating all your fangirl trash to the DAMN MUSEUM!" the maid made a dreadful expression to much the amusement of the mages who had been watching the interlude slightly uncomfortable.

"Ok, ok, geesh" she digged in her apron, pulled out a tooth brush and handled it to Natsu.

"Sorry Natsu-sama" she mumbled. When Natsu noticed the brush he looked for the one he saw earlier, compared them, and realized that the one he had was fake.

"Oh, thank you" he accepted it with a carefree manner, much to the ire of Erza but she kept herself on check.

"Oh, I've just remembered; can I talk to you in private Ignatius-san?" everyone looked at her in curiosity.

"Of course" they both walked out of the room to the hallway "so what can I do for you?"

"Well…" she decided to go straight to the point "when we were in the library, I found a book and…"

"Let me guess; it was the novel of Zekua Melon? The dragon and the princess?" she widened her eyes.

"Actually yes, how did you know?" his face became nostalgic.

"It was the first book I really loved and actually, the first I read. Call me crazy if you want but when I entered that library I've just learned how to read, and between all the books that were there I felt like one of them was calling me. When I found it I finished it in one day; I just couldn't get my eyes of it"

"Was it really that good?" she asked in wonder and he nodded.

"The idea of a creature labeled as monster that falls in love with a damsel (a/n sounds familiar? a/n) it got me, is as simple as that"

"I see… if it means so much for you then…"

"Save it; you can have it" he saw the surprised look on Erza's face and explained himself "I've read it five times and it would be selfish of me if I keep it just for myself, also, there are not enough thanks for what you have done for me"

"Thanks, I appreciate it" after that, all that was left was saying the last goodbyes and then the mages were already leaving in the horizon, being followed till the last moment by certain maid, who looked like crying.

"Oh cheer up would you?" Ignatius walked to her. She rubbed her eyes trying to dispel the tears.

"But master…"

"No buts; if you really consider yourself worthy of him you shouldn't act so downcast" his words soothed her a bit.

"You are right" he smiled.

"Besides, I have a feeling we'll be seeing him again very soon" he said gripping his key tightly.

…

Our quartet was currently waking through the streets of Minstrel trying to hold the excitement of carrying so much money gained with the sweat of their brows, some of them better than others (a/n guess who a/n).

They decided that each second they spent without spending their earnings was a crime.

They split to explore the city, the mermaids for a side and the fairies by the other; Kagura wanted Erza to join them but she said that she had to keep Natsu from wasting all his part on food in one day.

The duo was wandering through the city, trying to decide what to do first.

"Maybe we should go to one of the plays; I've heard that they are specialty of the town" Erza suggested.

"Meh, all the plays I've seen are all drama, tragedy, not even a bit of action" he complained.

"But the ones of this city are special for a reason; they include all kind of stories in the plays not to mention, they include many kind of magics as special effects"

"Mhm, you got my interest, but I wanted to prove something different and I need your help for it"

"Yes, I already know that without me there you'll end up working on the restaurant to pay for the bill" she teased.

"I've got more than ten jewel how can you still say that?" she chuckled as response making him pout.

"Anyway, that wasn't what I meant" he caught her attention "I meant I wanted to see if I can buy any clothes I like" he met a thoughtful expression.

"Mhmm, that's a good idea. Its healthy to have a change of style once in a while; is good for the heart and growth but I have to ask why so sudden?"

"Actually I wanted to do it a while ago but I hadn't had any real money until now"

"Yes, I have to say you could use some variety"

"And just why that would be?" he asked slightly annoyed.

"Well you must have at least a hundred of equal vests in your closet"

"What do you mean? This is the only one I have like this aside from the one that has one sleeve"

"What?" she took a sniff "but how it doesn't smell?"

"Because I washed it" he said neutrally.

"But then what do you wear in the meantime?" she wasn't prepared for the answer.

"When it starts smelling then I wash it, and in the meantime I just take the day to warm up in my boxers till the clothes dry" the mind of Erza filled with images of a sweaty Natsu training only in underwear "why is your face like your hair?" he asked.

"Is… something that happens sometimes don't worry" she answered sputtering.

"Are you sure? Aren't you ill?" he placed his hand on her forehead, worsening the situation.

"Really I'm fine" she shoved her hand away "then you are really going to change your attire?"

"Yes, you don't believe me?" she thought for a moment.

"No is just… I'll tell you what: I'll help you with your attire if you watch a play with me"

"Oh, it almost sounded like a challenge" he sent her the grin she liked so much.

"That's a yes?" she sent a grin of her own.

"you bet it is" he bumped onto someone since he wasn't looking were he was going "oh sorry, I didn't mean-"

"its ok" the woman he bumped said.

Her voice made his skin sickly pale.

He stiffly turned his head towards the woman who was already walking away.

"Natsu are you ok? It seems you saw a ghost" a worried Erza put a hand on his shoulder.

Natsu just took a sniff and now he felt his knees weaken.

"…I ...could you wait a minute? I… need to…" he started walking towards the crowd leaving a confused Erza behind.

He followed the scent towards a bar and looked frantically for her, and then he saw her.

She was sitting at the counter drinking water. She had long raven black hair and was wearing a white gala dress with sapphire blue flame patterns. It was actually more blue than white. She had a nostalgic and a bit nervous smile. That was the opposite of Natsu, who was so nervous that he almost didn't noticed the nostalgic feeling he had in his chest.

What should he do? It was out of question he had to talk to her, to know why she felt so familiar. But right then, he didn't know how to approach her.

Luckily or unluckily, two men approached her and made a flirt each one (one made a dirty one and the other a terrible one) but the woman remained unaffected.

It was sight he had seen in the past and always made her blood boil.

Without thinking it more, he approached the men and spoke with all the anger he could muster.

"What do you think you are doing?" they turned to him "bothering a pretty woman being obviously drunk? At least you could try something more, which was the word? Original" they looked at him with a mocking grin and a pissed expression.

"And why do you bother us brat? Mind tour own business" thug 1 said.

"Yeah, don't you see we are talking with our new friend here?" thug 2 said with a dirty grin.

"Friend you say?" the woman chuckled "I don't have such low self-esteem to hang out with someone of your ilk"

"Oh shut it; just because you have a hot ass doesn't mean you can talk to us like that" he pinched her butt.

"I'm warning you" Natsu was having a hard time keeping himself in check.

"Yeah, like a brat like you could do anything to us, why don't you go and cry to your mommy's lap?" the woman cringed at this but no one noticed.

"Oh look, I think he had an accident" the first thug threw the rest of his beer to Natsu's face.

"…May I?" he asked the woman.

"Go ahead, this should be interesting" as soon as she said that the beer in Natsu's body ignited and consumed in seconds, startling the men.

"W-w-what are you?!" the second thug yelled. Salamander's eyes glowed in anger.

"Now should I just throw you out? Or maybe teach you manners first?" he cracked his knuckles. They both felt a warm liquid running through their legs, unable to move.

"Please don't waste anymore of your time with them, they are not worth it" the woman pleaded.

"As you say ma'am" not even a second after he said that the thugs were flying to the other side of the city engulfed in flames.

"I love doing that" everyone clapped at the hero of the bar but hi ears only caught the hands of the woman of his interest.

"Thanks for the assistance, and the show sir" she said with a warm smile. Now he could take a closer look at her.

She was in her late twenties, had black thin eyes and a rhombus pattern painted in lilac on her cheeks

"No problem" he scratched the back of his head thinking where to start "I don't know how to say this but… don't I know you from somewhere?"

"I'm impressed, that didn't sound like a pick up line at all" he said with a teasing smile.

"I don't know what a pick up line is, but I really meant that. Is just… everything about you seems very familiar" she looked at little uneasy at this.

"Sorry, I should've started with introductions; my name is-"

"I know your name; you are Fairy tail Natsu Dragneel, you were really impressing on the grand magic games. Your words at the chariot were really touching" she motioned him to sit.

"Ah that was nothing" he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "but you got me here; you know my name but I don't know yours sooo" he railed of.

"Tania. The name is Tania"

"Funny, it reminds me of a friend of mine"

"You must mean Erza Scarlet, she made quite the impact too" she thought for a moment "you know, many people, including me, says that you two would make a perfect couple: the knight and the dragon, it sounds very romantic to me" he blushed deeply after that.

"R-really? I'm not sure but if you say so" he recomposed himself "so there's no chance that we've met before?" Tania shook her head.

"I'm afraid not, I would remember such a handsome, helpful man" she put a hand on his cheek without noticing it.

She didn't touch him even for two seconds but that short lapse of time made the dragon-slayer even more doubtful.

'Even her touch seems familiar... but if she says she doesn't know me, I can't push her'

"Well that's a shame. Sorry for bothering you" he was about to leave.

"No problem, but you helped me with those excuses of men so I have t repay you somehow"

"Thanks, but I already have plenty of money; I don't want to feel like a money-grubber" she chuckled at this.

"My dear, there's money everywhere, but I meant something very special that only I can give you" they didn't knew, but certain armored mage had been watching the scene since the two thugs flew out of the bar with curious eyes, but that last sentence made her crush the table she was holding.

She was about to interfere but the next ting she saw made her regain her curiosity.

Tania used reequip magic and made a small box appear in front of her.

She opened it and it was filed with all kind of jewelry.

"Now where did I put that thing… mhm… ah there it is" she pulled out an amulet of a silver dragon lying on a red crystal.

"Wow that's cool. Are you really going to gift it to me?"

"You helped me, it's only fair" she handled it to him and he tried it on. Then he noticed tat the crystal was actually a locket containing some kid of liquid.

"What's in it?" she chuckled again; Natsu decided that he liked her laugh.

"I'll tell you, but it would be our secret" he nodded in agreement; if there was something he would never do, it was betraying someone else's thrust.

She looked at her sides, checking that no one would hear them and then whispered in his ear.

"Dragon'…blood" Natsu's eyes widened at the size of dinner plates "It's ok if you don't believe me, but at least accept the locket

"It's not that, is just… how did you get it?"

"I asked for it nicely" she said with a smile.

"Then you knew a dragon?" he asked hopefully

"I did, but she died many years ago, and she was never the kind that shares many things with anyone. I was actually lucky she gave me her blood as a departing gift, sorry"

"No its ok" he looked at the locket in his hand "then I guess that's it thanks for the necklace, I'll take care of it"

"I have no doubts of it" they both departed in opposite ways. Natsu would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit disappointed but he wasn't going to let that tear him down.

He made his way towards the exit and spotted her guild mate "oh Erza, sorry I left you like that"

"Forget about that, are you ok? You looked like if you were sentenced to death" she asked worried but he shoved it off with his trademark grin.

"It was nothing, I just thought I've met that woman before but I was wrong" Erza thought that gave more questions than answers but she didn't pushed it.

"Ok then, what do you want to do first?"

"We can go to see a play" Erza's eyes shinned in expectation.

"Then lets not waste anymore time! There's on that starts in a few minutes" they headed to a huge theater, bought the tickets and waited for the play to start.

It was about a young commoner whose family is murdered by the king's orders and he swears to avenge them. With this goal in mind, he becomes one of the strongest warriors of the continent capable of facing the most talented mages.

But at some point, he falls in love with the king's daughter and starts doubting of his goal. Then sadly, the king hears about his daughter secret affair with the "traitor" and sends her to execution (Natsu gritted his teeth at this scene). Her loved one goes to her rescue, but is instantly defeated by the royal army's elite force, and is forced to watch her loved die.

He manages to escape and to the mountains and then screams to the heavens '¿Why all of them had to die for me?' This attracts the attention of the wolves and he surprises himself when he starts running.

'Why? I've lost everything. Then why I keep fighting for my life?' he wonders.

When the wolves corner him to a cliff, his life passes through his eyes; some happy moments but most of them painful but thanks to that he was able to remember something her loved one said to him:

'The one that seeks revenge lives with hate and a rancor that causes him infinite pain in the heart. And even if he gets his revenge he will be left with nothing then'

'But you don't have to worry; even if I die, I'll see that my memory purify the darkness in your heart' the memory of the woman he loved so much filled his heart with hope, helping him to kill the wolves in an instant.

Filled with a new resolve he begins a rigorous training harder than any other he had when he was moved by revenge. He returns to face the king's elite one last time surprising all of them when he defeats them without breaking a sweat.

Then he finally corners the king pointing the tip of his blade to his throat but instead of killing him he tells him he had revealed his crimes to the whole kingdom and that his fate will be decided by them.

When the king asks him why he didn't kill him he answers: 'Even if you are the source of all the pain I and the kingdom had to go through… I still owe you one… for bringing my princess to life and giving me the biggest happiness I lived, even if it was for a little time… so thank you' after that the king ends in prison and the hero starts a journey to find his own way.

The play included many magical special effects such as the mountain's snow, the spells casted by the wizards in it and the sparks of the swords clashes, not to mention the fast scenario changes for the fights weren't limited to only one.

The play was rewarded with a storm of applause, with a certain someone being louder than anyone else.

The magical duo exit the theater "so I take you liked it in the end" Erza said smugly.

"Damn right id did! I didn't expect it to be so cool! Do you remember the part when he totally owned those royal brutes or whatever? I made me wish I was there!" she smiled warmly at his excitement, happy that he liked it.

"I know what you mean" she said.

"Yeah. Well, now that means we're going to buy me new gear right?"

"Of course, lead the way" they went to the shopping district and Erza offered to pass through various stores but Natsu insisted that he was in charge now so they only went into the only store that caught Natsu's eyes, but agreed on letting Erza help after reminding her that he refused to try hundreds of clothes if he was only going to buy only one.

So they separated themselves and then rejoined, each carrying a piece of clothing.

Erza brought a pair of dark green cargo pants and a belt with the Fairy tail insignia on it and Natsu brought a variation of his old vest with the main layer being pitch black instead of blue and the second being the same shade of red as Erza's hair and also, had the addition of a higher collar and a pair of red Chinese dragons in an S position placed symmetrically on each side of the chest.

"That looks nice" he said when he saw her.

"I have to say the same, and its good to see you won't change too much your attire"

"Well if you don't like it I could always buy another like the original one"

"WHAT?!" her tone startled him "there's no way I can allow you to back down on your splendid idea of a change of stile and because of me on top of that! Go to the changing rooms at once!"

"R-r-relax would you? I only said it because…"

"I said NOW!" with that Natsu run to try the clothes on and of course, to run from Erza.

She waited for him with a victorious smile and then realized something.

'That didn't help at all in trying to make him less afraid of me' her expression fell.

"Ok I think it fits well, what you think?" Natsu's voice called her.

She saw him and his cheeks tainted in a slight pink.

"They… look good Natsu" that was the closest thing the scarlet knight could say without embarrassing herself,

"Awesome! Then lets get it" they bought the clothes as well as a few (meaning a lot) of things that caught the sight of the knight, making Natsu feel miserably. But she make up to him by taking him to a fancy restaurant, spending a decent amount of the reward without going _too_ overboard.

After a few more hours they decided to call it a day and meeting the mermaids at the train station as they agreed, chatting along the way.

"So the city is actually just a colony of a whole kingdom at the south?"

"Yes; centuries ago, the prince of the Minstrel kingdom traveled to Fiore looking for his loved one after saying goodbye to her a year before but he couldn't tell her how much she meant for him. When he arrived he found out that she was the princess of Fiore; the funny thing is she didn't know about her status either. So when their parents found out about their relationship, their marriage became imminent. Then as a wedding gift for the other and taking in consideration their love for their own countries, they named a city of their couple's kingdom on their own. Since then the relationships between the two kingdom only got better and better"

"Sounds like the typical fairy tale to me" he replied.

"I'd have to agree on that one" she smiled then noticed Kagura and Milliana in the train station waving at them.

"Er-chan! Nastu-san! Did you have fun?" Milliana asked.

"Hi Milliana. Yes, I have to say we had a very nice day" Erza responded.

"I see you got some new clothes Nastu, you look good" Kagura complimented with a small blush.

"Well thanks Kagura, I tried to not pick something to lame; fashion was never my thing"

"Nya Nastu! You look really handsome in those! Wait, let me take a picture or Kagura-chan would stop doing jobs just to visit and see you in them" as you can guess Kagura blushed madly at this.

"M-Milliana! Would you cut it already!?" but she was actually serious about the picture so she took out her camera-lacrima and took a couple of them while he posed.

Meanwhile, Erza looked between Nastu and Kagura trying to comprehend.

'What's going on? I was only joking about Kagura liking Nastu but the way she looks at him…' it didn't help that Natsu's attire showed practically all of his muscles '… maybe is better this way, I mean is not like I'm good for him'

"Are you ok Erza?" Nastu asked, noticing she spaced out.

She shook her head "of course. Now if everyone is ready we should get going"

"Ok I'll see you there!" he started walking in direction of Magnolia but Erza stopped him grabbing him by the scarf.

"Nastu we already talked about this, you are coming with us on the train" she said with finality.

"NOOOOO! PLEASE HAVE MERCY!" no one listened to his pleas (ok a few people did but they just labeled him as mad) as Erza dragged him to the train and the others followed them giggling.

"Just stop squirming!" she hit him in the head "you won't achieve anything"

"Is it really that bad?" Kagura voiced hers and Milliana's thoughts.

"I'll just say it's a quite a disturbing sight" she ended the topic there.

"Kami please let it end soon" Nastu wailed while waiting for the inevitable.

.

.

.

.

"God when will this fucking thing start; the sooner it begins the sooner it will end"

"Err Nastu, we are already moving" Milliana informed him.

"What!?" he looked at the window to confirm "but how?!" he began checking his body for any sign of dizziness but found nothing.

"Nastu calm down for a second, is there anything different that you've done today that you haven't done before?" Erza asked.

"Weeell I don't know maybe… The clothes! Do you think the new clothes have done it?!"

"I doubt it" the mermaids said in unison.

"But then I don't know what it is unless…" he looked at the necklace that Tania gifted him; the liquid inside was glowing weakly.

"Oh right! I've been meaning to ask; where did you get that necklace?" Kagura asked.

"Well a lady gave it to me after I helped her with some perverts that were bugging her"

"Nya! Just like the knight in shining armor! Maybe I'll start competing with you for him eh? Kagura-chan?" Milliana whispered the last part to her friend/teacher, making her blush and sulk.

'She'll never let me live through this' but then she looked at Nastu who looked like was having some kind of epiphany.

"…Do you know what this means?" he asked quietly.

"That we should take the necklace to the master to see what it contains?" Erza asked.

"That we should try to find that woman to see how she got that?" Kagura added

"That you won't get to sleep in Kagura-chan's lap?" Milliana kept teasing her teacher.

"No… it means…"

"GAJEEL, STING AND ROGUE ARE SOOO GOING TO DIE FROM ENVY WHEN THEY KNOW! HAHAHAHAHA!" the women of the group fell from their seats while Nastu made a victory dance.

After a few minutes the girl recovered and had to watch Nastu dancing or sticking his head out of the window like a dog or dancing more for the next half hour.

"Nastu... I understand your joy but could you please sit with us? You could trip…" before she could end her sentence the train abruptly stopped and Nastu effectively tripped with someone.

And of course, that someone was a woman… but if that wasn't enough…

All the girls watched the resulting scene with wide eyes; Kagura had also her hand over her mouth and Erza's jaw went through the floor, straight to the other side of the world.

Because Nastu landed with his lips smashing against the ones of the woman in question.

He was so stupefied by this fact that his skin didn't know if it should pale or blush.

He slowly and stiffly parted her lips and looked at the woman. She had short green hair with fringe cut right above her eyes and had two cross shaped hair pins.

"He… I-I'm r-r-really sorry miss… how about w-we just pretend nothing happened?" but the woman didn't answer; she stayed still with a terrible blush and with her eyelids and lips so tightly shut that they trembled.

"Eehh miss? Is something wrong? I didn't hurt you didn't I?" he noticed the she was mustering all her strengths to speak.

"It… feels… funny" she said.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Nastu…" he heard Erza growling "you may want to look down" she said but before he did he noticed how everyone else was looking at him; men with envy and woman with disgust.

He didn't know what was wrong with them so he took Erza's advice and looked down.

In that moment all the color left his body.

It looked like with the joy of surpassing his transport problem he missed that he was grabbing the woman's breasts (quite tightly by the way)

A nanosecond after he was shot the opposite side of the wagon, just in time to evade Erza's sword.

"I…! Just… didn't… how… sor-… damn, where's happy when I need him" he muttered the last part.

"Nya Nastu-san! Don't just sit there! You probably traumatized the girl!" Milliana nagged him.

He realized she was right and rushed towards the woman, cautious of not bothering Erza, who seemed to have frozen in anger.

Now he could look at her better: she was only wearing a brown bikini with golden sparks on it and a brown coat with wide sleeves and purple fur on the top and lower borders decorated with a stars print. She also wore a chocker with chains that diverted before arriving to the bust (way large bust) and cross shaped earrings

"S-sorry miss, I didn't mean to grope you… It's just I got overexcited about something and… well… I tend to disregard the outside world when I do that haha" the woman glared him a bit; not trusting him entirely yet.

"You probably think I'm some kind of pervert but please don't. I actually hate perverts; they offend woman thinking is the right way to approach them. They don't care about their feelings at all when is the only thing they should care!" everyone, including the woman, widened their eyes at this "but I understand if I offend you so if there's anything I can do make it up to you, then I'll do it"

Everyone tensed, waiting for the woman's response.

Her gaze remained stern for a while but then softened a bit and extended her hand to Nastu.

"You can start by helping me getting up" she said with a softer but still firm gaze. Nastu sighed inside and grinned outside.

He grabbed her hand and lifted her up. His smile seemed to start rubbing on her since the effort she made not to smile herself.

"Oh yeah, we should start with introductions: my name is Nastu Dragneel" her eyes widened for a millisecond but then returned to normal.

"It's a pleasure Nastu. You can call me Brandish" she extended her hand "don't ask why, but I can already tell you weren't lying to get on my good side" Natsu's partners raised an eyebrow at this but he just grinned and shook her hand, and had a weird feeling when doing so.

"You can bet I wouldn't!" after a second he realized what he said and panicked "I-It's not like I think you are ugly in fact you are very prett-" he slapped his hand over his mouth before saying something that would doom him.

But judging for the killing intent Erza was emitting it was too late.

"Nastu…" she growled making him kneel "after that touching words about a woman's feelings you flirt with a girl you met barely five minutes ago" Nastu suddenly got the image of a giant ready to crush him.

'…Please let it be quick' he resigned to his end. Milliana and Kagura were ready to intervene but then the help came from the most unexpected place.

"Excuse me" all eyes turned to Brandish, whose cheek were tinted in bright pink "Please don't be so harsh with Nastu-san; I'm sure he was only being polite after pushing us in that… position he was just being a gentleman, but I think you already knew that right?" she asked rhetorically.

Her words made Erza rethink her actions. She was right; she have known Nastu from almost a lifetime and he would never flirt with a woman so openly, and less with bad intentions.

She both admired and hated him for that.

"I guess I was being too rash" her aura returned to normal "maybe we should introduce ourselves too; I'm Erza Scarlet, we and Nastu are Fairy tail mages"

"My name is Kagura Mikazuchi, is a pleasure" she bowed slightly.

"Call me Milliana nya! Kagura-chan and I are from Mermaid heel!" she said enthusiastically.

"So what brings you to Minstrel town Brandish-san?" Erza scarlet.

"I'm on vacation actually; I've came from a continent to the west named Álvarez" the woman asked "how about you?"

"We came here for a job, we were just done actually"

"How did it go?"

"Well… let's just say it wasn't a walk in the park, but it all turned out alright in the end" Erza said.

"I see…" they kept chatting about all and nothing for a while. Brandish, for some reason and somehow managed to avoid the question of what she did to live, which was weird but the others didn't pressured her.

Many men looked Nastu with envy for some reason but the girls refused to tell him why.

After a while they got close to the next station "sorry but this is my stop" Brandish said.

"Aww, really?" Nastu whined.

"I hope we'll see each other again, Brandish-san" Erza shook her hand.

"It was fun meeting you" Kagura said

"Nya! You have to come to Mermaid heel sometime!" Milliana added.

"Don't worry; I'm sure we'll see each other again" after this she got off the train and waved at them till they got out of sight.

And then her expression turned sinister.

She looked at the hand that shook Natsu's and a series of runes appeared on the palm. The message was simple and clear.

"Result: positive" she sighed "it looks like the emperor was right; his brother has acquired _that_ magic" she looked again at the horizon where they were disappearing.

"I'll report this immediately; hopefully his majesty can find a way to contain him without killing him, I… wouldn't like if he died" she started walking to her destiny.

After a few steps she looked to her surroundings to see if someone was looking at her.

And when she saw no one was looking she grabbed her breasts and made a few experimental squeezes, the sighed in disappointment, with a quite cute face I must add.

"The feeling is gone" she resumed her path sulking slightly.

…

After a few hours of train ride the fairies separated of the mermaids and with a few hours more they arrived to magnolia.

It was obvious to Nastu that Erza was still mad for the incident in the train.

He mustered enough courage to ask her "Er-"

"Nastu" she said cutting him "I just want to know one thing and I hope you give me a direct answer" he nodded stiffly and she took a deep breath before asking.

"What happened with Brandish-san… was that your first kiss?" he scratched the back of his head nervous.

"It… was" he noticed that Erza wasn't with him anymore "Erza?"

He looked behind him and noticed that she was leaning against a wall with a dark cloud pouring heavily over her "umm, Erza?" she didn't answer, just started walking again.

"Let's just get back to the guild" she said still sulking, and Nastu couldn't do anything but follow her.

…

When they arrived to the guild there wasn't a single sound inside.

"Strange; even if they aren't fighting it shouldn't be this quiet" Erza wondered.

"Don't worry; I'll fix it" he opened the door with a kick "WE ARE BA-"

"SURPRISE!" the whole guild yelled to the arrived duo, leaving them slack jawed.

The whole guild looked ready for a thematic party that would possibly last for days; food, decorations and even piñatas shaped like the most powerful mages that Nastu defeated.

This gave Erza an idea of what was happening.

"There's our man!"

"Keep getting strong you bastard!"

"It's well deserved my boy"

"Thank you for everything you've done Nastu-san!"

"I still don't get why salamander is getting all the attention"

"Congratulations gray-sama!"

"Here we go again" (a/n you know who the last two are a/n)

Nastu couldn't believe what he was seeing, but he didn't dwelled too much on it and jumped to the part, while Erza looked for the person that was probably behind all of this.

"Welcome back, Erza" Mirajane greeted her.

"I won't even ask if this was your idea" she said with a smile.

"If I remember correctly it was yours. And you were right; he deserves this, now leave the questions for later and enjoy the party" Mira answered, and Erza had no choice but to indulge.

The party was a blast, bigger than any other that they had until now. Everyone had fun with the piñatas, eating contests and fighting of course. There were even cookies shaped like Gray face courtesy of "you know who". But still, Nastu enjoyed munching them.

After a few hours the party was still going wild, everyone was having the time of their lives, nothing could ruin the-

¡SLAM! The guild doors suddenly open.

"I want a clear table and I want it NOW!" Cana's voice called their attention.

They all saw she was fighting to carry a man over her shoulder.

"Cana! What happened?" the master voice resounded across the guild hall while everyone complied clearing a table and helping her to put the man there.

"Where is Wendy?!" the card mage bellowed.

"H-here!" the young dragonslayer moved to the table.

"He said he was poisoned" Cana informed.

"How is he doing?" Wendy asked; the mood in the guild made a 180° spin.

"Hey, hey Zet! Are you alright?" the tanned woman asked him. He tried to open his eyes… and started chuckling.

"Your lordship! I'm a magical pony; I'm legally incapable of committing murder he-he"

"That's a no" she said worried "Wendy can you do something?"

"I-I'll do my best!" she began working her magic (a/n ha, I've just got it a/n).

"Cana, could you please tell me what happened?" the master demanded.

"I don't know I found him on my job, a monster attacked us, he said he was poisoned and only had like two days…"

"Two days? But your job was barely half a day from here!" Mira yelled.

"I know! I don't know what happened I… don't know" everyone looked at her worriedly.

Her face was completely powerless.

That was not a face a Fairy tail mage should have.


	6. Chapter 5 An outstanding mind

Chapter 5

An outstanding mind

All the guild members had crowded around the man that Cana had brought to the guild; none of them in the mood to make any jokes about it.

Currently Wendy was giving her best to help him but judging for the worried look on her face, she was not doing well.

"How is it going?" Cana asked.

"Cana I understand your concerns but you asking the same question again and again won't help" the master said, but you could see he was worried as well.

"It was only two times and sorry if I don't like the idea of the guy that saved my life dying on me!" she said with a pout.

"Geez, no need to be so touchy about your new boyfriend Cana-chan" Laxus smirked, expecting her to shout and deny it, not for her cheeks to redden slightly "you have to be kidding me" he said before she could retort and started cackling.

"No way"

"Cana? Of all people?"

"I guess love at first sight does exist"

"Aww man, I was about to ask her out myself"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP ALREADY!?" the woman in question yelled, the red in her cheeks changed from embarrassment to anger "do you really think I'll jump to the first guy that pulls me out of a difficult situation?!"

At this, certain redheaded looked at certain pink headed and couldn't avoid seeing certain resemblance.

'…no, it's just a coincidence' she reasoned

"Cana-san please, your friend is still hurt" Wendy pleaded.

"Oh right! Sorry" Cana added quietly "anyway, you still haven't told me how ii it going" she flinched when Wendy started trembling.

"There… there nothing more than I can do" most of the guild gasped

"What do you mean?" Nastu asked.

"Whatever this poison is, it has already infected most of his circulatory system; it's taking all of my magic power to keep him stable but if he doesn't have a transfusion soon he… he…"

Everyone stayed silent at this, for different reasons.

Most of them were frustrated for not being able to do anything except watching a man dying on their own guildhall. Others felt more sorry for Wendy because the idea of her so rare and unique healing powers being useless now had to hit her hard.

However, Cana had it the worst; she didn't know why, but not being able to pay back the man that saved her out of the kindness of his heart and in consequence, he was now dying.

Then Lucy spoke "Then why are we still standing here? We have to take him to the hospital before…"

"Re…utto…" they all heard it; it was a bit more than a whisper but they all heard it.

Cana got closer to the man to catch more of his words "what are you saying?" she asked gently.

"Red… button…" he breathed.

"What is he talking about?" Laxus asked in all seriousness

"What red button?" Cana asked, anxious to the core.

She heard a little thud at the man's left, and when she saw what caused she widened her eyes.

His robotic arm was twitching, a red light shining on and off on its wrist.

"What happened to his arm?" the master asked.

"I still don't know" Nastu got close to see more clearly the source of the light and indeed, the light came from a red button.

"…It could be a trap" Gajeel deduced.

"Of course, if taking the trouble of making yourself a bomb wasn't enough then poison yourself to death to make it more believable" gray said sarcastically.

"It could happen you moron!"

"If it's a trap it's obviously too elaborate, even you should notice"

"What was that!? You want to fight stripper?!" Gray's eyebrow twitched.

"What gives you the right to…" he looked down to found out he was in his boxers again "DAMN IT! Again?!"

"You see what I'm talking about?" the iron dragonslayer grinned.

"Why youuuu…" he got into his stance as well as Gajeel.

"You pair of morons! How can you think of fighting in a moment like...?!" the master started but he was interrupted by a strange sound. "What was that?" he asked.

"Oh that? I just pressed the button" Natsu said nonchalantly.

"WHAT?!" many people yelled

"Don't you think that…?" Gajeel began but he was interrupted too.

" **Emergency healing system initiated"** everyone turned to the source of the strange woman's voice, which came from the mysterious man's robotic arm.

" **Analysis concluded: 89% of the circulatory system infected by the poisonous substance N° 34. Initiating transfusion treatment"**

Suddenly his arm detached from his shoulder, landed on the floor and started some kind of transformation.

In less than a minute, it became some kind of machine as well as an electrocardiogram and two rods with four plastic bags hanging on each one. After a few seconds they began filling themselves with blood though no one knew bothered to ask where it came from at this point.

Then, from the machine, emerged four transparent pipes that attached to his human arm. In a few moments, the machine began pumping blood in and out from his body.

"…Wow" Laxus voiced everyone thoughts.

"Is this even possible?" Gray asked.

"Evidently it is" Freed said in a thinking pose "but I understand your doubt, I mean, I can't sense any magic power"

"Will he really be ok?" Lucy asked concerned.

" **Please don't worry"** the voice sounded again, startling the celestial spirit mage as well as most of the guild.

"Eh?" then, out of nowhere, various light particles appeared in front of the mysterious man and grouped in a female humanoid shape, shocking the guild even more.

" **Master Zet designed this system by himself and I personally lead the construction process, so rest assured he'll be fine in little less than an hour"**

"…"

" **I understand you may have many questions so feel free to ask; I'll answer to the best of my capability. Although I have to warn you from now that I may not be able to answer all of them"**

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Erza lifted her hand **.**

" **Yes, Scarlet-san?"** everyone widened their eyes.

"You know who I am?"

" **I do. You see, and my master always liked your guild's ways and always used them as an example of how he wanted me to… exist, therefore, I started by keeping a record of your activities and since then I started to feel more… alive"**

Her words confused the knight

"… **But anyway; I don't think that was your question was it?"**

"Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask who or… what are you?" the entity gave her a short nod.

" **My name is Kamui; an artificial intelligence created by master Zet designed to assist and accompany him through his investigations"**

"...Artificial… intelligence?" Natsu asked dumbly, although in this case, there were many people that have no idea of what she meant.

"She probably means she isn't a real living being but one created by him using artificial methods" Levy said.

"He made something like that to keep him company?"

"How lame is that?" Laxus and Gray snickered.

"Oi!" Cana was about to nag them but Kamui spoke first.

" **Actually is not that simple"** everyone paid attention **"when he created me, he was applying a peculiar theory he had for years; he was trying to make a copy of his own brain and using it as the matrix of what would become his assistant.**

" **But something happened; be it a miscalculation on the process or that the whole theory was wrong; it doesn't matter now, the point is that some of the data of his brain copy was erased while some other was twisted randomly into brand new data creating something new… something different"**

Levy, who was in a thinking pose until now, suddenly realized what "Kamui" was trying to say.

"Wait. If you say that you have a human mind different to any other then that means you are…"

" **I prefer the term 'artificial intelligence' but yes; I'm quite close to being an original human. Master even likes to call me his daughter"**

"That's impossible; there's no living being, human or not, capable of creating life by artificial methods" Makarov was shocked.

" **I'd like to remember you that I'm more the product of causality than anything else. However, the only reason you believed that is because you haven't met my master until now; he has a natural talent of making the impossible possible"**

"Master" Erza spoke "if we see it calmly then the life isn't something you can achieve by magic or any other methods, and she did said she was created by accident so if she really is what she says then it could be the same miracle in another shape"

" **Miracle…"** Kamui thought aloud **"yeah, I think that's pretty accurate"**

Everyone stayed quiet, thinking in what they heard.

" **Anyway, are there any more questions?"**

"I have one" Gajeel spoke "just who is he?"

" **I guess you could call him an independent inventor; he has created many magical devices that are used today and upgraded many more"**

"Such as?"

" **Some of his creations are the MPF, the long distance lacrima communications, the renewable ethernano engine as well as a new type of rune codification"**

"Wait a sec!" Freed shouted "are you talking about False turn? The magic that was developed in the seven years many of us have been out?"

" **Precisely"**

"Ehh, Freed? What are you talking about?" Bickslow asked.

"Do you remember that mission we took shortly after we awoke? The rune trap I had so much trouble disarming?"

"Yeah, what about it?" this time Evergreen spoke.

"It turns out it was codified in a way that didn't exist seven years ago; each time I tried to erase a character of the circle, all of them rearranged in a different character type. I had to write a whole advanced formula to keep the codification suspended, and then another one to erase the whole circle"

"Oh right! You almost ran out of magic power then"

"Yes. Since then I investigated that magic but I only got the name"

" **That's because master hasn't made it public"** she caught Freed's attention **"what you saw was probably an imperfect version of the magic since the complete one can't be undone by such method; master once filter that version to call the attention of a few dark guilds that had been troubling us"**

"Incredible. It was hard enough that time but to think it was an incomplete version" Freed mused.

" **Anything else?"**

"There's one more thing I would like to know" Cana started "exactly what was that thing that attacked us?"

For the first time, Kamui looked uneasy.

"… **I'm not allowed to answer that , but if you ask the master I'm sure he will tell you"**

"That remembers me. Cana, could you tell us more about this creature that attacked you?"

"Right; Zet called it a garuda but I haven't heard of them before. It was something like a cross between a human and a bird; it had red translucent skin with only one wing"

"What?" Erza's tone almost froze the entire guild. Natsu also looked shocked.

"W-what is it?" the drinker asked slightly freaked out.

"Cana" her tone was still cold as hell "would this creature happen to have the ability to assimilate other magics?"

"It did but… how did you knew?"

Natsu and Erza exchanged looks.

"We faced one of those on our job" Natsu said.

Cana gasped.

"You did?"

"Yeah, Kagura and Milliana took the job first and almost died, we could have done it as well"

"What?"

"Something almost got Natsu and Erza?"

"And those Mermaid heel girls as well?"

Everyone was shocked by the news but Erza still wanted to ask something more.

"Before we tell you how we won I would like to know how you did Cana" she requested.

"Actually I didn't do much; Zet just told me to pull out my 'man' card, after that he created a lightning cloud and then a wing similar to the creature grew from his back and…"

"WHAT?!" her outburst startled everyone.

"Ok, could you stop scaring me for five minutes please?" Cana said while catching her breath.

"Did a wing really grew from his back and use it to kill the creature?" Erza asked calmer.

"It did but…"

"Just when that thing was about to kill us, a wing grew from Natsu's back and only then he could kill the creature" she answer before Cana could ask.

" **...Is that true?"** Kamui asked.

"It is. I don't remember very well how it happened; all I know is that I became angry that I couldn't damage that thing, then my back started burning for some reason and then I just did… something that killed the creature"

"Do you know what happened?" he asked.

" **Like I said there's little I can tell you, but I can say that what you acquired is a lost magic made for dealing with those creatures"**

"So it's like slaying magic?" Gajeel deduced.

" **Not quite; all the different slaying magics work in a way that is completely different from this magic. The methods it uses to kill a garuda have the potential to turn an average mage into a master level mage but with a huge risk, which is why it could be the most dangerous magic for the caster in the world"**

" **Although…"** she hesitated.

"What is it?"

" **It's possible he acquired the magic just because he was facing a garuda at that time; meaning that the magic could have faded away since he isn't in contact with one of them anymore. It's very rare for someone to keep that magic forever"**

"Sooo what now? Do we have to confirm if he did keep it?" Gray asked and Kamui nodded.

" **Indeed; this isn't something that can be left alone; it could cause trouble if he indeed has it"**

"Then, how do we do it?" Natsu said.

" **Master won't wake up in a few minutes, so without him, the only way left would be to push your magic power to the limit"** he grinned at this.

"Yosh! Then let's waste no waste anymore time" he pointed at Erza "we haven't fought since the grand magic games and you did promise we would so what do you say?"

The knight was unsure at first because they have just returned from a quite hard job but then remembered it was Natsu who she was talking about, so she had little choice.

"Alright Natsu; let's see what you got" she said with a challenging smirk.

"Natsu and Erza are going to fight? And for real this time?" Macao asked fearfully.

"I don't think that's a good idea anymore" Wakaba sweatdropped.

"So, what do you think master?" Natsu grinned wider. The master thought for a moment.

"So be it; as soon as Freed sets the protection runes around the ring you'll fight" some of the members cheered at this.

" **If you really are going to do this…"** Kamui's voice cut them **"then I have to give you a warning… no… more like a condition"**

"Which is that?" Erza asked.

" **If it's true that Dragneel-san kept the magic inside of him, then the moment it shows itself you must** **stop fighting** **; if you keep pushing your magic power the consequences could be irremediable"**

"Yeah, maybe then you'll tell us what those consequences are or what is this all about in general" Laxus said.

" **It seems master was right about this one"** she whispered.

"What was that?"

" **Oh nothing, when do we start?"** she continued like nothing, making him grunt in annoyance (you know, dragon slayer senses and that).

"Right now, Freed?"

"I'll get to it" they all went to the back to the guild were a big rectangular white ring. Freed set the runes and in a half an hour that seemed eternal they activated.

"Ok listen" the leader of the raijinshu said, "the runes are programmed for allowing anyone to get in but not out; this means not only you but your magics as well"

"Alright" Erza said and Natsu nodded in agreement and got inside the ring.

"Are both fighters ready?" the master said.

"Yes"

"Then… begin!"

"Re-equip!" Erza yelled and in an instant, she was in her flame empress armor.

"I'm all fired up!" Natsu rushed to Erza with his fist coated with flames.

In less than a second Erza lifted her sword to strike.

In that moment, time seemed to slow down for Natsu.

'What? Since when she is so slow?'

In a blink, Natsu sidestepped, leaving wide-eyed Erza.

* * *

 _With the spectators._

"Wow! Did Natsu actually dodged that?!" a random member said.

"Amazing! Don't you think master?" Mira said.

"Yes, although even if Natsu became stronger Erza hasn't been slacking off either; so to dodge one an attack like that so easily…"

Meanwhile Kamui listened to their words and could only think **'I have a bad feeling about this'**

* * *

 _With Erza and Natsu._

Erza was still a bit awestruck about the fact that Natsu dodged one of her attacks at full speed with little effort.

So much that she missed the left punch that Natsu threw at her, throwing her to the side of the ring, but she regained her footing before touching the barrier.

"What's wrong Erza?!" Natsu yelled half taunting, half pissed "seems you got sloppy all of a sudden!"

'I see he is still an idiot; it's not that I became slow; is that he became faster but when? How?'

She decided to push that side for now and focused on the fight; she re-equipped her sword with her lightning empress armor spear and shot a barrage of quick lightning bolts.

Natsu could not dodge the first one, which paralyzed him long enough for the rest to land.

After that, Erza quickly re-equipped to her flight armor and ran behind him in a flash.

She was about to slash him on the back but he recovered and catch her by the wrists and immediately after kicked her in the gut, pushing her back.

Natsu took the chance while Erza regained her breathing and jumped in the air with his leg raised high.

"Karyu no kagitsume!" he delivered a flaming kick to her head but she recovered just in time to dodge with a powerful jump.

The redhead shot towards the other side of the ring and re-equipped midway into her giant armor and wasting no time, she threw her spear at Natsu, who blocked but grunted under the force behind the attack and was sent flying until he hit the barrier.

Erza then re-equipped into her heavenly wheel armor and used the enhanced telekinesis to keep the spear pushing Natsu to the barrier while she prepared her attack.

"Blooming blade!" **(A/N I figure out the translation by myself and was so happy for some reason that I decided to write it like this since now! XD)** she shot dozens of swords at her opponent at great speed but when Natsu noticed, the world slowed down again.

'What the hell?' he was confused but shrugged it off fast, and countered. He pushed of the spear with a surge of might and ignited both of his hands before slamming them together.

"Karyu no koen!" he surrounded himself with a huge explosion that blew the swords away when they got too close.

When the flames dispersed, Natsu noticed Erza looking at him with shock but then smirked at him. Then he noticed something a bit more interesting.

His back started burning again.

'Ok I think I got it now, just need to push it a bit more' he focused on Erza again; he posture, the swords circling behind her back and even how it accented her curves and revealed a decent part of her body (I mean seriously; since when he cared about that?)

Meanwhile, Erza just noticed that Natsu was staring at her with and odd look. Which wasn't so bad but being Erza, she also noticed that he was looking at her up and down stopping by seconds in her stomach, breasts and… just her face.

Of course she started blushing "w-what are you looking at?" she said while looking away from his gaze.

"Eh?" he looked at her a few seconds more before registering her words "oh! Nothing; I just thought of something"

"What would that be?" she asked genuinely curious.

"Nothing it's just… I think I like that armor the most"

That sentence took Erza off guard (and everyone else actually but mostly she)

"…What do you mean?" she asked unsure of how to process what she just heard.

"What do I mean? What do you mean? I just said I like that armor the most; I don't see what's so complicated" he retorted with a confused face.

At his question, the answer popped in her head, but she would die of embarrassment if he heard it so she quickly thought of something that would convince him.

"I meant why this one? I always thought you would like the flame empress one more?"

"Hmm yeah, that one is cool for me but this one suits you better. Actually each time I imagine you reequipping I always think of that one, also you look good in it as well"

Erza's mind collapsed.

* * *

 _With the spectators._

"…Did I heard right?" Bisca asked, not believing his ears.

"I think I heard the same thing" Alzack said.

"Does that mean uncle Natsu likes aunt Erza?" Asuka asked. When the early girl said this murmurs began to sound between the members of the guild.

"QUIET! You are distracting the brawlers; we'll deal with that later" the master said.

"You can say that, but maybe it would be better if you don't grin like that" Mira said giggling.

"I don't know what you're talking about" he grinned wider.

* * *

 _With Natsu and Erza._

"Anyway, ready to continue?" he asked but got no response "Erza?"

'Continue? CONTINUE?! How can I continue with ANYTHING after that?! I was starting to consider getting over what is obviously a passing crush but then he comes with this! Grrr, Natsu why do you have to be so, so…'

However, before she could think of a proper adjective he spoke again.

"Err did I offend you? Crap, I did it right? Umm I'm sorry ok, I… I'll make it up to you; we'll just do anything you want after this, ok?"

Erza's brain collapsed once more.

'...I'm going to lose my mind' she thought "well if you insist then I'll accept" she managed to say with a straight face.

"Yosh! Then let's continue!" he jumped in the air and created spirals of fire in his hands "karyu no yokugeki!" he unleashed a storm of fire at Erza who manage to regain her thoughts in time to defend.

"Re-equip" she glowed for a moment and when the light dissipated she was clad in her black wings armor with her ocean empress sword.

She began slashing at the fire rapidly sending water waves at it; enhanced by the armor, each attack became stronger than the last.

The clash of magics resulted in a cloud of vapor that blinded Natsu temporally but Natsu's nose warned him of an attack from above. Once again, he reacted one time and managed to dodge his opponent's holy hammer.

Natsu saw an opening then and inhaled deeply; preparing all the magic he could in a single moment.

"Karyu no hoko!" he shot a huge stream of fire towards Erza but was a second to late so she managed to re-equip on time.

When the smoke cleared all he could see were the shields of Erza's adamantine armor, but then she opened them revealing something else.

Behind the shields, she was wearing her flame empress armor.

"Do you understand Natsu?" she asked smirking "I've been working on this just for you; combining the heat resistance of my flame empress armor and using it to increase the defensive power of my adamantine shields. This is the biggest heat resistance I'm capable of right now; do you think you can beat it?"

Natsu smirked as well.

"Ohhh, I'm so fired up right now" he smirked as well, the burning feeling in his back being almost as great as the first time 'I just need to push it a bit more and I will need it to beat that' he started gathering a great amount of magic power.

"Metsuryu ougi" a tower of fire erupted around Natsu and Erza close her shields, preparing for the impact.

'Don't hold back' he thought and then he yelled "guren bakuenjin!" he shot a tunnel of blades towards his opponent.

The attack landed, but made little to no damage to the shield.

'Keep… pushing… just… a bit… MORE!' a stream of fire erupted from his back, taking the shape of a dragonfly wing and at the same time, the size of Natsu's attack increased at least four times.

'He did it' Erza thought as the attack pushed her back until she slammed against the barrier; the shields a little bit more than ragged.

She re-equipped back to her heart-crux armor and was about to congratulate Natsu but…

" **That's enough Dragneel-san! Turn your magic power off now!"** the concerned voice of Kamui reached everyone, except for Natsu.

This was a new sensation for him.

'This is amazing; I feel like if I could increase my magic power more and more…'

BOOOM!

A sudden burst of magic pressure different from anything they have felt before emanated from Natsu, so powerful that it even destroyed the runes.

"What is this?!" Makarov yelled, trying to shield himself from the immense heat.

" **I'll bring master but you have to stay away from him!"** Kamui yelled.

"What are you…?" Laxus started but she had disappeared "shit!"

* * *

 _Inside the guild._

On one of the tables, the man named Zet continue sleeping, the transfusion successful and now he just needed to rest a bit.

" **Master! Please wake up!"** the voice of Kamui sounded from one of the machines **"Please! Dragneel-san acquired the wing and had just become unstable!"**

His eyes shot open.

"That damn idiot" he said before jumping of the bed and running to the back of the guild.

* * *

 _With Natsu._

Erza watched in amazement at the magic the exceeded from Natsu; the only time she remembered feeling something more powerful was when she faced the dragons at crocus.

However, from the look on Natsu's face, he was not having a good time for this.

"Natsu?" her worry skyrocketed when she looked at him better.

In short, he looked like a pointillism picture; his whole body seemed made of millions of particles.

He looked at his hand with what looked like fear "I feel… weird" he said.

The particles began separating; floating to the sky.

"Natsu?!" she ran to him but before she could reach him she noticed a figure in the sky that was falling fast towards them, a rod materializing in his hand.

The figure turned out to be that man that was sleeping in the guild, and he slammed the point of the rod in the back of Natsu's neck.

Natsu opened his eyes in a silent scream of pain as an electric current traveled across his body, pulling all the particles back to their place as well as pushing the wing back in his body.

After doing this, he fell to the ground panting.

"Whoa! That was… odd… but thanks man; I thought I was going to-ack!" he chocked when he grabbed him by the neck and lifted him.

"Oi! What do you think you are doing?!" Erza re-equipped with a sword and pointed it at the man.

"Ohhh believe me there are many things I would like to do to this suicide idiot" he answered shocking everyone.

"What are you talking about?" she asked but he ignored her.

"What the hell were you thinking?! Didn't you hear Kamui warning you about this?!" Zet yelled at Natsu.

"I think it must be really funny, right? Acting before thinking and solve everything with brute strength, right? Well guess what? That is over, finish, kaput, ancient story, in the vault of 'never ever again' call it whatever you want, I guess you didn't even know what you were doing"

"Well... no not really-ow!" he grunted in pain when the man head-butted him.

"I saw you on the GMG; your magic container resists less than 8000 ethernano revolutions, but you forced it o more than 11000er! Do you know what happens when someone pushes themselves that far?!"

Natsu was now half-confused half-scared while the rest of the guild (especially Makarov and Erza) wanted to know the answer.

"They disestablish in pure ethernano! The wing is labeled as a forbidden magic for a reason! Arg, do you know what happened to the last guy who played with this power?!"

"Err, no?" he asked dumbly.

"He lost an arm" he said darkly shocking everyone as they shifted their gazes to the robotic arm that held Natsu's neck.

He lowered Natsu so they were at eye level "you will never use that again without my permission, **got it?** "

The dragon-slayer gulped "g-got it"

Zet held his gaze a few seconds more; printing the word 'death' in everyone's minds.

"…Good! I'm glad you understand" he said with a smile making everyone fall on their backs.

He looked at the scene confused "What's wrong with you?"

"Don't mind them" Cana stepped forward "it has been a very strange day even for us so we are a bit more vulnerable than usual"

"Ah, Belly-san! Thank you for saving me, even after all the troubles I caused you"

"Don't mention it but… don't you think you are forgetting something?" she sweatdropped at the end.

"Oh? What could that be?"

"She means that you are still holding Natsu" Erza said a bit irritated.

He looked down and saw a pink-haired man whose face was slowly turning blue.

"Oh right! Sorry" he released him.

"Don't… worry" he said catching his breath.

"Ekhm" Makarov called their attention "I think this is a good moment for you to tell us what's going on here"

"Yes; after all this I assume you have many questions" he thought for a moment "maybe we should all get back inside, it could be more comfortable for everyone" Makarov nodded.

"Ok brats, if you want to know what happened to Natsu and who attacked your brothers get back inside"

"Hold on" Laxus spoke "Am I the only one who noticed he just called Cana Belly-san?" most of them lit their eyes in realization.

"No you aren't Laxus, but we have more important matters at hand" Mirajane spoke "but don't worry I'll talk to her myself later to get all the details" she smiled warmly/evilly.

"Geez cut it out would you? It's just a nickname; is not like he likes me or anything" Cana said sincerely annoyed.

"Well…" Zet pondered the idea making Cana sincerely embarrassed; she could hear Mira and other of her female guild mates squealing.

"D-do you really think it's the time and place to discuss that?!" she yelled blushing.

"Not really" the tone he used made everyone shut up.

"After what happened here, you are in right to know what happened, but if you wish to hear it, you have to know you'll cross a point of no return"

Most of them looked unsure at this; they didn't like the tone he used.

Natsu spoke "I'll listen" everyone looked at him.

"I was about to die" he shocked everyone "for the first time in my life I really felt that I was going to die; I would just fade into nothing and disappear. And I want to know why"

After hearing this, everyone's resolve returned.

"We will listen" the master said making Zet sigh.

"Alright"

* * *

 **I know, I know; I'm a goddamn lazy-ass but in my defense I started writing to get my ideas out of head; I wasn't expecting more than one person (me) liking those ideas.**

 **Anyways, the point is that I'm a terrible writer with terrible motivations so if you want me to update faster you'll have to give me that motivation *cough* reviews *cough*.**

 **I guess I have nothing left to say except 'sorry, please don't send a hitman for me' and see you next time!**


End file.
